The Blue eyed Hyuuga
by Fenix Maelstrom
Summary: Byakugan! "Hey, Naruto..." "Yes, Iruka-sensei?" "You realize that you shouldn't be able to do that...right?" "Umm...no...I didn't know that..." "Yeah... Naruto?" "What is it, Sensei?" "Naruto...you're a Hyuuga..."
1. The Unlikely Hyuuga

"Hey, whatcha doin?" a boy with dark brown hair asked, staring at the blonde before him.

Naruto had been sitting comfortably before hand, in a complete state of concentration, but this boy had pulled him from his trance.

"I'm focusing chakra," Naruto replied quickly, "And I need to concentrate. So if you don't mind."

The boy looked around for a moment before he returned his attention to the blonde, "Why're you doing that in the woods? You should get home...the woods are dangerous."

"I'll be fine," the nine year old boy replied, his concentration once again broken, "Could you leave me alone now?"

Naruto once again entered his meditative state, but before long he was interrupted from his thoughts: the boy was poking him with a stick.

"That's it!" Naruto yelled, but as he got up, he heard a stomping through the woods before being knocked away by an older girl.

"Leave my little brother alone you monster!" the girl yelled, kicking debris at him.

The other boy tried to stop his sister, but Naruto had already fled from the scene.

"Don't you ever talk to that thing!" she scolded the boy, "He's dangerous."

Naruto had barely made it out of that situation; he knew that if other people had seen it, it could've turned into a full scale fox hunt, with him playing the role of prey. The only reason he'd managed to survive the last one was because a lone ANBU had risked his own safety to pull Naruto out of the mob. The boy was certain that, had the ANBU not saved him, he wouldn't be alive today.

Unfortunately, the number of people that treated Naruto with kindness was extremely limited: Snake, Inu, Weasel, Iruka, the Hokage, old man Ichiraku, and his daughter Ayame. At least there were some people that cared, but they could only do so much to stop the people that wanted to hurt him. And those people far outnumbered the others.

"Hey, Naruto," a tan, dark-haired man stated cheerily, placing his hands on the boy's shoulders.

Naruto jumped reflexively, still slightly panicing over the earlier event.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yes, Iruka-sensei," the boy quickly replied, his dialated pupils staring directly into those of his teacher.

"What happened?" Iruka asked, crouching down to Naruto's eye level.

"...Nothing sensei," Naruto tried to lie, thought he could tell it wasn't working.

"...Alright, if you tell me what it is, I'll take you out for a few bowls of Ramen."

The bribe worked immediately; Iruka could tell by the bright glow seeming to radiate from Naruto's eyes. He couldn't help but feel like he'd been had.

Ten bowls of Ramen and one depressing story later, Naruto was sitting with Iruka in silence.

"Why do people hate me, sensei?" the boy asked, his eyes on the floor.

"I wish I could tell you, Naruto," Iruka replied steadily, "Let's just say that they can't let go of the past...or their own sins."

"What's that mean, sensei?" the boy asked. Obviously trying to comprehend what the man before him was saying was giving him a headache.

"You'll understand one day, Naruto."

"...Okay, sensei, if you say so."

Iruka smiled at the boy as he began to finish his eleventh bowl. It was amazing how quickly he could shift between emotions.

"Anyway, I'd suggest you get home now, Naruto," Iruka continued, paying the bill, "It's getting late, and you have school in the morning."

Naruto's eyes popped open and he began to choke on his food.

"And for Pete's sake slow down!" the man finished, performing the hymlic maneuver to unhinge the ramen from the boy's throat.

"Alright, sensei," the blonde replied, gasping for air, "But could I get you to walk me?"

"Of course," the man answered, ruffling the boy's hair, "This way I know for a fact what time you got home...so you can't use that as an excuse tomorrow if you're late."

Naruto smiled and began walking with his sensei in tow; they both knew that wasn't the real reason Iruka was walking him home. After all, a ninja's best work is done at night.

- - -

"Byakugan!" Naruto's voice reverberated off the walls in his livingroom once, before everything fell silent again.

The Hokage had given Naruto a few books for his ninth birthday a few weeks prior, and one of the books, 'A History of the Clans and Bloodlines of Konohagakure," had caught his attention. Naruto knew there were techniques that only a few people could learn, but this book introduced him to jutsus that only people with a certain lineage could learn. The first thing Naruto did after reading through each section was attempt that clans bloodline limit. Naruto had no known family, so he concluded that it was possible that one of his parents could've been from a clan with a bloodline.

He'd already tried the Mokuton bloodline, hoping he was the direct descendant of the first Hokage; he was wrong. The next ones he'd tried were a little different: the Akamichi body expansion, the Sharingan, and a few other minor ones. When Naruto turned to the second to last section and found it relatively empty, he got confused. The only information the book offered on the reclusive 'Hyuuga Clan' was a picture of the Byakugan eye, how to activate it, and a breif history of the clan itself...that was it.

There was, however, the information Naruto needed in it. After the required handsigns and focusing his chakra to his eyes, he felt he should call out the name of the bloodline...just for good measure. He wasn't too surprised when nothing happened, he gaze traveling down to the pupilless eyes of the Hyuuga man in the picture.

With striking force, Naruto's head exploded in pain, and, as he hit the floor, he started screaming. Anything was better than this pain: let him die, give him back to the mob, send him through torture, just get rid of the pain. But as quickly as it appeared, it was gone...and Naruto's vision began to return to normal. No, not normal, it was better than normal; all the colors around him were crisp and sharp and everything was the perfect tone. He could see into the nooks and crannies of his apartment and even behind him.

"Wait...behind me?" Naruto asked himself as he lifted his leg behind him, "And below...? What about above?" The blonde lifted his hand in the air, "So this is what the Byakugan does? What else can it do...?"

Naruto began to ponder on the subject, but his enhanced vision subconsciously focused on the clock in his bedroom, and he knew it was time for him to go to bed. Iruka was going to flip when he saw Naruto in the morning.

- - -

Naruto opened his eyes with a start and glanced over to his alarm clock before nearly screaming; he was going to be late.

"Gotta hurry," Naruto shouted repeatedly, pulling on his clothes, "Can't be late!"

Naruto found his orange jacket in his bathroom and, as he was zipping it up, turned to see himself in the mirror. His grin broadened three-fold when the eyes that were staring back at him were blue and pupilless.

"I can't wait to show Iruka-sensei!" the boy yelled, running and jumping out his window. As he did so, the wind the he broke through forced itself into his room and blew the book Naruto had been reading to it's final section. Only part of a word 'Nami...' could be read before the wind forced the book shut.

- - -

"Nara, Shikimaru," Iruka called out.

"Here" a lazy voice replied.

"Pick your head up Shikimaru," Iruka responded as the boy began to lower his head to the desk.

A grunt was his answer.

"Haruno, Sakura," Iruka continued.

"Here sensei," the pink-haired girl replied happily. At least someone was happy to be there.

"Hyuuga, Hinata," the man called out.

"Hai, here, Sensei," was the meek response.

"Uzumaki, Naruto."

The room was silent.

"Naruto?" Iruka called out again, lifting his head from the roll call sheet, "Has anyone seen Naruto?"

Hinata began to shift nervously in her seat. It was no secret that she was fond of the boy, so much so that the only person that couldn't seem to tell was Naruto himself. But there was always the problem of the 'Clan', and Hinata feared she may never have the chance to be with him. Her father would never allow it.

It was at this point that Naruto burst through the classroom door, orange jumpsuit and all. His spiky blonde hair was all anyone could see until he looked to Iruka with his eyes closed and began apologizing.

"I'm so sorry I'm late, sensei," Naruto began.

"I'm sure," Iruka replied flatly, "I'm sure you have a good excuse?"

Naruto nodded his head, "I was working on learning a jutsu last night and kinda lost track of time."

"Oh?" Iruka asked, slightly intrigued, "Well, since you worked on it for so long, I'm sure you wouldn't mind coming to the front of the class and showing them what you learned!"

Naruto lowered his head and began his trek to the front of the class; immediately Iruka felt sorry for him. He had never once seen Naruto walk with his head down, even after people insulted him or threw things at him he would always wear a smile.

As Naruto took his place at the front of the class, he lifted his head, and Iruka began to wonder. He realized the boy didn't want anyone to see his eyes; that was why he was staring at the ground, but before Iruka could say anything, the entire class felt it. There was a sudden surge of chakra and the veins around Naruto's eyes bulged, leaving them clearly vivid; when the blonde opened his eyes, the entire class shuddered...everyone except for a certain blue-haired Hyuuga.

"Byakugan!" Hinata nearly yelled, abandoning her seat and running to the front of the classroom to get a better look at her crush, "Naruto, you can use the Byakugan!"

Iruka jerked in surprise; not only had Hinata completely ignored the rules of the classroom, but she'd spoken loud enough for everyone to hear her and she didn't stutter! Iruka walked around Naruto to look him in the eyes; sure enough, he was staring into the pupilless eyes of the Byakugan.

Iruka walked over to the door and turned to face the class, "Naruto, Hinata, I need the two of you to come with me. Class, another teacher will be here in a moment, so behave yourselves until he gets here." With that, Iruka escorted the two outside the classroom and into another.

"Hinata, Naruto, I would like the two of you to wait here for a few minutes. I'll be right back, okay? I need to get a substitute teacher to the classroom and call the Hokage.

"Is this really that big of a deal?" Naruto asked, feeling that too much was happening for his sake.

Iruka was about to answer when a meek voice interrupted him, "Yes it is, N-naruto-kun," Hinata answered, "The Hyuuga Clan t-takes great p-pride in keeping the secrets of our bloodline."

"And the fact that you activated it alone brings even more questions," Iruka finished for her, seeing she was having a bit of difficulty talking to the boy, "Anyway, I'll be back in a few minutes."

After a few moments of silence, Hinata felt the pangs of curiosity hit her, and she couldn't seem to stop herself from asked any questions. "S-so, N-naruto-kun," she began, catching the boy's attention, "H-how d-did you a-activate the Byakugan?"

"I was given some books by Ojii-san," Naruto replied, "For my birthday. One of them was a book on the clans of the village...so I decided to see if I had any of their blood in me. I don't know who my parents were."

"I see..." Hinata responded sadly.

"So I went through every one of the bloodlines in the village until I came to the Hyuuga bloodline. It had practically no real information on it at all, but it had enough for me to try to activate it. And when I did...well, this is the result. It hurt much worse the first time though."

"Yes it did..." Hinata agreed.

"Might I ask what this is about, Iruka?" the two heard an elderly voice inquire outside the classroom.

"Something you'll want to see, Hokage-sama," was his reply.

"And might I ask why I'm here?" another man asked. Hinata paled; she'd recognize that voice anywhere.

Iruka opened the door to reveal the two children, and the three men stepped inside the classroom.

"Alright, Iruka," the old man asked, expecting the worst, "What has Naruto done and what's it have to do with Hiashi's daughter?"

"Actually, it isn't really Hyuuga-san's daughter that this concerns. I just didn't feel it wise to leave Naruto in a room alone for too long and felt Hinata was the best choice to keep him out of trouble."

The Hokage nodded his head in agreement, "So what is the purpose of calling us here?"

When Iruka called to Naruto, the boy opened his eyes and, before activating the Bakugan, the words 'Don't tell me he's...' could be heard.

There are few things that had shocked Hyuuga Hiashi in his lifetime, and even fewer that he'd actually expressed...but now, staring at the boy everyone called a monster, Hiashi let his mouth drop. Naruto was a Hyuuga.

"I guess it's in his blood..." Hiashi stated, trying to calm himself.

"That wasn't very funny, Hyuuga-san," Naruto replied, a pout on his face.

At first, Hiashi tried to brush the comment aside, but the look on Naruto's face had already finished Iruka and the Hokage off...and before he realized it, he, too, was laughing histerically at the statement...and the bewildered look on his daughter's face beside the blonde only added to the hilarity.

After a few minutes, the adults had calmed down and were now discussing the next possible action.

"He'll have to be moved into the Hyuuga household," Hiashi stated bluntly, "I'm afraid we can't have unmarked Hyuuga blood running around the town freely...it's the way of our clan."

"I understand you reasoning, Hiashi," the Hokage replied, "But I can't have him branded. If he is, we both know what will happen."

"Yes...yes we do," Hiashi replied, "Then I'll have to make him a Main house member."

"How do you plan on doing that?" the Hokage asked, his curiosity evident.

"I'll adopt him. The elders won't like it, but I am still the head of our clan, and so long as I am, they'll hold no power against me."

"You're certain about this, Hiashi?"

The Hyuuga clan leader motioned for the Hokage to follow him out of the room into the hallway and, as the older man closed the door behind him, Hiashi began to speak.

"We both know who's son Naruto is," Hiashi stated, "And I've never been a big fan of leaving him out in the world on his own. Even some of my own clan hold what he carries against him, but if he's my child under my protection...no one will be able to touch him."

The Hokage nodded in agreement.

"But the honest truth is...I want him around," Hiashi continued, "You saw what happened in there. I haven't laughed like that since...I don't know when, and he seems to be able to help my daughter as well. I think having him around will be a very good thing for the Hyuuga clan."

"If you think this is what's best, then by all means," the Hokage replied, "But rest assured that if anything happens to Naruto while he's there...if anyone tries to brand him or eliminate him...I will see to their punishment personally."

The statement made Hiashi feel uneasy inside; there was always the possibility that a rogue shinobi would attempt to do something to the boy, even if he was within his protection. The only option Hiashi could think of was to put guards on the boy when he slept, other than that he'd be on his own.

"Iruka!" the Hokage called out. After a moment, the man opened the door and he and the two children filed out. "I would like you to continue your class. Take Naruto and Hinata with you."

"The two of you will come to the Hyuuga compound after class," Hiashi stated, "I'll be sending house guards to escort you. You are to wait here until they arrive."

"Hai, Hyuuga-sama," Hinata replied.

"Hai," was Naruto's response.

Hiashi nodded his head, and he and the Hokage began to walk down the hall.

"Behave yourself, Naruto," the Hokage called out to the blonde.

Naruto grimmaced. It was like the old man could see into his head.

When Naruto entered the room, he could feel the eyes upon him; while he was normally looked upon with disdain, he could see the curiosity on the faces of the children before him. They'd thought they had the boy figured out; now they knew that he was a complete mystery. But there was still one guarenteed stare of animosity: Naruto could feel the hate radiating from a boy by the name of Uchiha, Sasuke.

The rest of the class was quite uneventful, the only thing of any interest was Iruka's lecture on the basics of a finer form of chakra control, and before they knew it, the class was over and the children filed out into the courtyard, slowly disappearing with their parents until only three were left.

"Who do you think you are?!" Sasuke yelled at Naruto, now that he was certain the three were lone; his fists tightened into balls, "I've been trying to activate my Sharingan for years and yet here you are, activating something you're not even supposed to have!"

"Get over it," Naruto replied bluntly, "I don't care about your sharingan, and my activating this has nothing to do with you. Leave me alone."

"No! I won't stand for this!" the boy yelled as he pulled out six shuriken and twirled them at the blonde.

What happened next was something that Hinata would never forget. In movements so fast that they were hardly noticable, Naruto had forced chakra into his arms and hands and caught all six of the throwing weapons; he'd unintentionally mastered the Juuken chakra technique.

As Naruto dropped the weapons to the ground, he deactivated his Byakugan and turned away from the raging Uchiha. "I said leave me alone."

"Fine," the boy replied, the malace in his tone unmistakable, "I don't need weapons to deal with you!"

Naruto and Hinata could both feel the surge of chakra gathering in Sasuke's lungs, and before either one could say anything, he released the fire infused chakra in a single, giant burst. "Giant Fireball!"

When the smoke cleared, the only thing that was visible was the scorched earth where the two had been standing. "Serves you right, loser," the boy commented to himself.

"Your act of agression could be taken as a direct threat to the Hyuuga Clan," a man stated from behind Sasuke. The boy quickly turned around to see a Main house Hyuuga guard carrying both Hinata and Naruto in his arms.

Sasuke scoffed at the man before turning around and walking away.

"Your instructor and the Hokage will be informed," the guard stated as he sat the two children down, "Don't think you'll get away with this without some form of punishment."

As the boy made his way out of sight, the guard turned to face Hinata and Naruto, "Hinata-sama, Naruto-san, please come with me. I've been ordered to escort you to the Clan grounds."

"Thank you, Yami-san," Hinata replied, bowing.

"Yes, thank you," Naruto agreed, "I don't know what I could've done against that justsu of his."

"From what I saw, you handled yourself pretty well," the man replied as they began walking, "You managed to stop every one of his shuriken by focusing chakra into your arms. I think our style of fighting will be perfect for you."

- - -

"I cannot allow this!" one of the clan elders piped up, his tone barely above average, "We cannot allow that monster into our household!"

"I agree with Elder Iroku," an elderly woman agreed, "There's no telling what he may do once he's here. Why not simply brand him and let him live outside the house?"

"I, for one, will not allow this," Hiashi replied, his stern tone forcing the woman into silence, "And the Hokage agrees. If he is branded, it is likely someone from our main house will execute him."

"Do you not trust our family?" another elder asked.

"It isn't a lack of trust that makes me say this," the clan head corrected, "I am simply not oblivious."

"If I may speak freely, Hyuuga-sama?" one of the elders requested.

"You may."

"I don't know what you feel towards this boy, but I feel I am speaking for this entire council when I say that we want nothing to do with him. The boy brings chaos wherever he goes, and I feel he may bring an end to our order if you take him in."

"I see your point," Hiashi agreed.

"But, if I may be so bold, Hyuuga-sama?" another man asked.

"Feel free Hizashi."

"I feel as though the chaos this boy brings may make our ties stronger. I've always felt as though the clan has needed something more to it. We are practically machines. I feel this boy may bring to this clan what it is missing."

"Spoken like a true leader," Hiashi complimented, "I've decided to take Naruto in as one of my own. He will be a Hyuuga."

"Hai, Hyuuga-sama," the elders replied in unison.

- - -

Hiashi, Hizashi, Negi, and Hanabi were all standing outside when Hinata and Naruto arrived. After a few warm greetings and Yami informing the Main and Branch heads of the Uchiha incident, Hizashi knelt down to introduce himself to Naruto.

"My name is Hizashi," the Hyuuga man told Naruto, "I'm the brother of Hiashi here and Hinata's uncle. I am also the Branch Clan head."

"Branch...?" Naruto asked, confused.

"You'll come to understand our ways soon, child," Hizashi replied, "But until then, I'd like to welcome you, on behalf of all the Branch house, to the Hyuuga Clan."

Hizashi bowed to Naruto and the blonde returned the courtesy.

"My name is Neji," the younger Hyuuga replied, "I am Hinata's cousin, Hyuuga-sama's nephew, and heir to the Branch house."

Naruto bowed to the slightly taller boy before he turned to Hiashi.

"This is my youngest daughter, Hanabi," he introduced, but the girl stayed hidden behind his leg, "And she is a little shy of new people. I'm sure she'll get used to you."

Naruto bowed to her and she nodded her head slightly in response.

"And if you didn't know, I am Hyuuga Hiashi, head of the Hyuuga Clan," Hiashi continued, "You'll be learning a lot about the Hyuuga clan in the next few years, and there will be certain things expected from you as such. You'll be intoduced to a few others today before we return to your apartment for your belongings.

"At the end of this school year, you will be removed from the academy to be home schooled until your final year of the academy, where you will return to finish your more practical classes and pass your final exam to become a shinobi of the Hyuuga Clan. Are there any questions?"

Naruto shook his head. If he was expecting anything from joining a clan, it most certainly wasn't this.

"Good, you will be attending your home schooling with Hinata here," Hiashi stated, motioning to his daughter, "As she will be removed from the academy classes until the final year as well."

Naruto nodded his head dumbly.

"Very well, let's begin the tour," Hiashi finished, motioning Naruto inside.

It was true, Naruto wasn't expecting much from joining a clan; he didn't think they'd even allow him to join a clan seeing how everyone seemed to hate him, but this was the farthest from what he'd expected. He was being indighted into the prestegious Hyuuga clan...and the whole process just seemed to confuse him. The only thing that really crossed his mind as he was guided through the halls of the building was a single thought: "What did I just get myself into...?"

**A/N:**

**For those of you that don't know, I got ANOTHER Anya/Ayame comment. This is the EXACT same as the original chapter one, but I had to upload it again seeing as it's been over 60 days since I posted chapter 1. Okay, now that I got that out of the way...enjoy the story! If I've made any more name errors, let me know!**


	2. The Blonde's Return

Naruto shifted about uncomfortably in his room. He'd been with the Hyuuga for nearly four months now, and, other than the blonde hair and light blue eyes, he easily passed for one of them.

"How are things going, Naruto-kun?" Hizashi asked, surprising the boy from behind.

"I-I'm well, Hizashi-sama," the blonde stammered in response.

"Now, now, I can see you're uncomfortable," the Branch Head replied, patting Naruto on the shoulder, "But the garments you're wearing are required for several reasons."

Naruto gave the man a slightly disbelieving glance before nodding; he couldn't see why he was required to wear the outfit. He felt like he was wearing a dress.

"Why do I need to wear this, Hizashi-sama?" Naruto dared to ask.

"The Juuken," the man replied matter-of-factly, "It requires a lot of specific movements; in a lot of ways it's like a dance. The outfit you're wearing allows you free movement of your arms and legs; until you've memorized your basic Juuken stances and how they flow, you have to wear that. When you've got the basics down, you can try it with more restricting clothes."

Naruto bowed his head in defeat; he was already missing his old life. Sure, he had people he could talk to and an awkward sort of family, but he had so many rules to follow it was baffling.

"You'll get used to it, Naruto-kun," the Hyuuga male commented, an honest smile on his face.

"If you say so, Hizashi-sama," the blonde boy replied, a melancholy tone to his voice.

"Besides, you've got Neji and Hinata here to help you through it."

Naruto didn't respond to that one. Hinata was one thing, but Neji took his studies to a different level; he was way too serious in Naruto's opinion.

"What was that look for?" Hizashi asked, a smirk evident on his face.

"You've never had to study with Neji-san," Naruto replied, a tired look on his face.

Hizashi had to laugh at that one; the boy was way too young to wear that expression,

"You'll get used to him; who knows, you two may begin to grow on each other."

The look that adorned Naruto's face forced Hizashi to burst out in laughter; the blonde definitely brought with him something that was missing from the Hyuuga household.

- - -

The first few months of Naruto's training were fairly uneventful, save a few bad habits that the boy brought with him. Even in a house full of Byakugan users, Naruto was still making mischief. At one point in time, much to Hizashi's delight and Hiashi's disdain, Naruto had managed to sneak red dye and pour it into the Clan Head's laundry. When Hizashi had to speak with his brother and found him wearing all pink, he hit his hands and knees crying in laughter. After a long lecture from Hiashi, and a permanent guard stationed around Hiashi's quarters, Naruto gave his word that it would never happen again.

After that incident, Naruto ceased his pranking to delve into his studies; he was quick to catch up to his comrades. Around the fourth month of being inducted into the household, Naruto was finally done learning the basic stances, and was now required to watch them in action. He and Hinata were required to attend the daily sparring sessions between the older students, with their key goal being memorization. They were to watch how the stances they'd learned months before flowed with each other depending on movements.

Before Naruto knew it, he and Hinata had been attending these sparring sessions for months and were now participating in them as well. He had learned more advanced chakra control early on in their training and, while required for the gentle fist, the two were ordered to keep their strikes purely physical.

During one sparring session a few months in, Naruto displayed a bit of himself that no one had taken notice to. As Naruto squared off against the older boy, Hyuuga Hiashi found himself entering the training grounds.

"Hiashi-sama," an elderly Hyuuga gasped, "It is an honor. To what do we owe this visit?"

"I am simply here to see how the newest member of the Main House is faring," Hiashi replied, "Is it possible that I could see and honest match-up?"

"You mean with full Juuken strikes, lord?"

"Yes, I'd like to see how far the boy's come. Place him against Hikari."

"Very well, my lord."

After a brief time-out, Naruto was paired against a different opponent, this one better acquainted to the gentle fist.

"You are to use any and all of your abilities in this match," the instructor stated, "Hiashi-sama wishes to see how far you've come."

Naruto and Hikari bowed to the instructor and, before bowing to his opponent, Naruto turned to face his adoptive father.

"I hope I do you proud, Hiashi-sama," Naruto uttered, bowing low.

Hiashi returned the bow, and Naruto turned to do the same to his opponent.

"I will win this match," the boy commented, staring into Naruto's eyes.

Naruto didn't respond, instead activating his Byakugan and assuming his fighting stance.

"Begin!" the instructor commanded.

As Hikari charged forward, Naruto closed his eyes and slowed his breathing; this went unnoticed by all but one, and now Hiashi was intrigued. The first strike was thrown by the other boy, but the next three were done by Naruto. He leaned into the strike before throwing his hand upward, knocking his opponent's arm out of the way. He then hit the boy in the chest, throwing him a few feet away, but the final hit was a mere brush of the boy's other arm. Hiashi was definitely pleased. Naruto had eliminated his opponent and the other boy didn't even realize it; Naruto could see the Tenketsu.

The other boy leapt to his feet and charged in again; this time Naruto met him head on. After a few small exchanges, Hiashi noticed Naruto's opponent was beginning to tire and, after activating his Byakugan, his knew why: Naruto was making every hit count.

The final exchange wasn't done the way any of the onlookers could've guessed. Naruto front flipped over his opponent, hitting one of the Tenketsu on his neck, forcing him unconscious. At this, Hiashi was both pleased and dumbfounded. It seemed the boy had tweaked the gentle fist, adding his own variations of stances and maneuvers, but what pleased Hiashi the most was the final blow Naruto landed. The very last hit should've been in Naruto's blind spot.

Naruto bowed at the fallen form of his opponent, then to his instructor, and finally to Hiashi.

"I am very pleased at your development so far, Naruto," Hiashi commented as he returned the bow, "You've made me proud."

Naruto blushed slightly and bowed once more as Hiashi exited the training grounds. Even if he was just a beginner, Naruto was showing great potential; it seemed as if the Juuken was meant for him after all.

- - -

After the end of his first year as a Hyuuga, Naruto's life turned in a direction he was definitely not happy with. His sparring sessions had been reduced to only four times a week, with every other day being filled with studies; it was like being in school for twenty four hours a day. He had to learn the history of the Hyuuga Clan and its association with Konohagakure as well as the policies of the Hyuuga household: every Monday was filled with different facts about the clan and its origins; Tuesdays, Naruto learned about the other major clans in Konohagakure, as well as a few minor ones...this lasted the majority of the day and, just a few hours before turning in for the night, he had his first sparring session of the week; Wednesdays, he learned the history of Konohagakure and the politics surrounding it and its allies; Thursdays, he learned of the other major ninja villages before his second sparring session of the week; Fridays, he learned of the lesser ninja villages and of their associations with the larger villages; Saturdays, he learned the history of Ninjutsu and its association with the Samurai clans before his third sparring session of the week; and on Sundays, he learned the history of their world, including the Great Ninja Wars that had gone on throughout time, while the day ended off with his personal sparring session with Hiashi, Hinata, Neji, and Hizashi.

As for his personal level, Naruto stayed pretty much the same. Hiashi quickly began training Naruto to hold in his emotions a bit and eventually Naruto discovered that, so long as he held his Hyuuga persona in public or in front of the Elders, Hiashi wanted Naruto to keep himself...something about 'changing the Hyuuga'. Whatever the case, Naruto quickly adapted to his new environment and began to try to fit in, but the blonde hair and blue eyes did pose him a bit of a dilemma in that aspect.

Naruto's first friend in the Hyuuga household was Hinata; she was the only one that didn't hold some unknown grudge against him. She was quickly followed by Neji who, indiscriminately, made sure to put the Branch members in their place when they glared at the boy.

His studies were continued under both Hiashi and Hizashi, while more the ladder, seeing as Hiashi was the clan head. He eventually moved up to learning different languages and such and, before he knew it, another year had passed by; this is when his practical studies became more prominent.

He, Neji, and several other boys would run an obstacle course set up behind the compound in the early mornings before their sparring matches in the afternoon and, after a ten minute cool-down, their workouts got worse: target practice, fighting while partially disabled, and fighting groups of enemies were just a few of the exercises they were put through. Again, though, Naruto and the group found themselves quickly setting into the routine.

Around six months after their training, there was uproar in the Hyuuga household; apparently the shinobi ruler from the Land of Clouds had attempted a kidnapping on Hanabi. The man had been thwarted when Hizashi came to check on the oddly quiet young girl and found her drugged and passed out in the arms of the unknown shinobi.

Immediately, Hizashi took the offensive and knocked the man out cold; the shinobi ruler from the Land of Clouds was now being held captive by Konoha. The uproar was that the main branch guards hadn't seen the man enter.

"Hizashi-sama," Naruto inquired of the older man, "What's going on? Is everyone alright?"

"Everything is fine, Naruto-kun," Hizashi replied, fixating a smile on his face, "Someone tried to kidnap Hanabi, but I stopped them."

Naruto returned the man's smile before bowing and retreating to his quarters for the night.

A few weeks after the attempted kidnapping, Naruto was informed that the man was tried for treason to Cloud and sentenced to death, but it didn't stop several of the clan members from mumbling about 'death because he was caught'. Naruto didn't care about what happened to the man, honestly; his main concern was the well-being of both Hanabi and Hinata. This sort of thing couldn't have been easy on either of them; and it wasn't that long after that he became a shoulder to lean on for both girls, with Neji entering the academy.

- - -

"Now, Naruto, Hinata, I expect the two of you to uphold the Hyuuga name and image outside," Hiashi ordered the two as he led them to the compound gates, "Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Hiashi-sama," the two replied in unison while bowing.

Right now, Naruto and Hinata wore the same expression: stern and solid, but on the inside, they were jumping up and down, and for good reason. They had been cooped up in the clan compound for over three years to the day, and they were finally being let out, their studies finished. There were, however, different reasons they were ecstatic: Naruto was glad he could finally run around town again; Hinata was happy she could be with Naruto outside of the ultimate of the prying eyes, the Byakugan.

As the two exited the main entranceway, Hiashi smiled; whether his daughter knew it or not, he could see past her eyes, and the smile that graced her lips as they turned and left didn't go unnoticed.

"So the Academy starts back up tomorrow..." Naruto mumbled after a moment of silence.

"Hai, Naruto-kun," Hinata replied.

"It doesn't really seem fair..." the blonde whined, though only Hinata could hear him, "We

just finished our studies in the clan and now we're stuck in school again? I kinda wanted a break..."

"Naruto-kun, you know the reason it's set up like this," she answered.

"Yeah...I guess..." There was another moment of silence as the two walked into the

market district of town. "Well, if nothing else, I get to show Iruka-sensei what I can do!"

Hinata smiled at her crush's antics; no matter how down he was, he could always find some way to cheer himself and those around him up.

Before the two knew it, Naruto had, subconsciously, led them to Ichiraku's Ramen Stand and, after a moment of conversing, the two sat down for a meal.

"Hey, Old Man!" Naruto called out.

"Who are you calling old you..." Teuchi replied sternly, turning to face the voice, "...is that you, Naruto?"

"You got it old man!" the boy replied.

There was good reason Teuchi didn't recognize his favorite customer: he looked nothing like he had before. Naruto had easily grown a foot taller over the years, thanks to the food at the Hyuuga household, and his blonde hair wasn't just shaggy anymore, it was long. The front still spiked out like it used to, but the back now hung freely nearly halfway down his back. His looks weren't the only thing that changed though, as he now wore a loose black t-shirt and slightly baggy tan cargo pants. The boy Naruto that had gone to the Hyuuga's was gone, replaced with the much taller and leaner teenage version, or at least that was what Ayame had said.

"So what've you been doing for the past few years, Naruto?" the old man asked as he served the two their bowls.

"Training," Naruto replied through mouthfuls of ramen, his Hyuuga manners forgotten.

"Ah, so it's true then..." Ayame stated as she gave Naruto an once-over, "You've been

taken in by the Hyuuga."

Naruto swallowed his last spoonful and turned his gaze in Ayame's direction; she both gasped and blushed. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, despite being a good five years younger, Naruto was quite handsome, and those pupil less, cerulean blue eyes didn't help in the least; they showed his true depth...his kind and gentle nature. After a moment of silence, it was Hinata's fidgeting that brought Ayame out of her trance; the woman knew that Hinata had a crush on the boy and could only guess that her movements were her way of letting others know that she'd already staked her claim on him.

Ayame smiled at her after a moment and came to gather their bowls.

"You ready for your next, Naruto?" Teuchi called back from over a steaming pot of noodles he was preparing.

"Sorry, old man, but I've got to head back out; there are a lot of things I want to see before the day's over. This is my first day out in three years and I'm gonna make the most of it!" Naruto replied, jumping off the stool and grabbing Hinata's wrist.

To say Teuchi was surprised was an understatement. He'd been making ramen for the boy for nearly ten years, and never once had Naruto left without having at least five bowls.

"Well, come back and see us sometime, you know you're welcome!" the man called to their backs. As the two walked out of site, Ayame turned to her father, "It's not a crush anymore, dad."

"Yes, I see it too. She's completely fallen for him," Teuchi replied smiling, "They'd make a good couple."

After several hours of walking around and visiting different shops, the two found themselves heading back, reluctantly, to the Hyuuga Estate. After a few minutes, however, Hinata noticed Naruto was headed back out and called to him.

"Where are you going, Naruto-kun?" she asked.

"I remembered something I wanted to pick up outside...I was going to go back and get it earlier, but I kinda forgot," Naruto replied sheepishly, running the back of his head and smiling broadly.

"Want me to tag along?" she asked.

"Nah, I'm good. I remember where it is; I'll be back in about half an hour," he stated as he made his way to the gates.

Hinata felt a little let down, but she knew that even if he had said yes, half an hour was too long for her to be out; she had her own duties as heir to attend to first. And it was because of this that she, reluctantly, tore her gaze from her crushes retreating back and headed towards her father's chambers.

- - -

It was a beautiful autumn morning, and the two could feel it like no one but a Hyuuga could: the touch of the earth, the gentle gusts of wind, the sounds of birds chirping... but most of all, they felt comfortable with the each other around. This was how it should be, and they both enjoyed it.

They had been talking for a few minutes when the academy came into view and, as ordered per Hiashi, they finished their conversation and stuck on the cold demeanor of the Hyuuga. While Hinata had been doing this for some time, to Naruto it didn't settle very well...but going against the will of the clan head was not something he was looking forward to. Besides, he wanted to relish seeing all the old faces of his classmates and none of them recognizing him; he was looking forward to hearing his name on roll-call.

As they entered the classroom, they realized they were the first to arrive; they'd even beat Iruka-sensei. The two took their seats beside each other in the back and patiently awaited the arrival of the other students. Hinata had her hands on her knees while Naruto had his hands clasped together in front of his eyes, leaning on his arms.

Slowly, the room filled with people, many of whom were conversing amongst themselves, but Naruto didn't go unnoticed; the problem was that no one knew it was Naruto. The boy sitting beside Hinata looked nothing like the Naruto everyone had known.

"No way," Shikamaru muttered to himself quietly, "Naruto couldn't change that much. Besides, he'd be declaring that he was back in front of the entire class by now."

"Who's the guy sitting beside Hinata, Shikamaru?" Ino, a young girl with long blonde hair and a purple outfit, asked, genuinely curious, "He's as gorgeous as Sasuke!"

"How should I know?" Shikamaru replied in annoyance, "I bet he's Hinata's bodyguard or something."

Ino looked displeased by his answer.

"Or maybe..." the black haired boy replied with a bit of a smirk, "He's her boyfriend."

Shikamaru could see the jealousy written all over Ino's face. She was so predictable: one cute guy gets mixed in and she's all over him.

Ino quickly made her way to Naruto's desk and leaned to see under his arms; he certainly looked like a Hyuuga.

"So," Ino stated while leaning to see his face, "What's your name?"

Naruto opened his eyes and glared at her, causing her to stand up nervously, 'Definitely a Hyuuga,' she thought to herself.

"Uh, sorry to bother you..." Ino apologized, making her way back to her seat; she could feel his gaze following her the entire way.

Shikamaru laughed to himself when she took her seat. He'd figured the guy was a Hyuuga, but he was completely sure of it now; why else would Ino react like that? It was pretty obvious that Ino's answer from the boy was a glare; that's just how Hyuuga men were supposed to act towards all those who weren't in their clan. He glanced over to see the two Hyuugas converse for a moment before returning to their quiet demeanors.

"You know..." Shikamaru thought aloud, "Part of me really hopes that's not her boyfriend. They would have a very boring relationship..."

"Attention class!" Iruka called out over the commotion. Without Shikamaru's noticing, the entire class had arrived and, as predicted, most of the girls were eyeing the new guy. "I will now begin roll call. Answer when your name is called," Iruka finished.

The roll call went as expected without any commotion until he reached the 'H' section.

"Haruno, Sakura."

"Here, Sensei," the pink haired kunoichi replied.

"Hyuuga, Hinata."

The blue-haired Hyuuga rose from her seat a bowed to Iruka, uttering the phrase that had been tattooed into her brain since the day she could talk, "Hai, Sensei."

Iruka began to call out the next name, when he realized he recognized it and was forced to look around the classroom. Many of the students were confused as well; they were sure he was going to call out the mystery Hyuuga's name next. Instead of saying anything, Iruka just stared at the boy, analyzing him from top to bottom. His eyes went wide when he realized there was no error in the roll call sheet.

"Hyuuga..." Iruka paused, looking directly at the blonde enigma, "Naruto..." the last part came out in a whisper.

There were gasps in the crowd of students and the majority of the girls were now blushing furiously. They couldn't believe they were thinking 'those' thoughts about Naruto!

Naruto, on the other hand, remained unfazed and held to his Hyuuga training. He stood and bowed to his sensei, uttering a similar phrase as Hinata's, "Hai, Iruka-sensei." With that, he took his seat and moved his hands in front of his face once again. The excitement and befuddlement of having called his name, however, didn't die down for several minutes. Only four students in the classroom remained silent: Naruto, Hinata, Shikamaru, and Sasuke; the truth was that Shikamaru had suspected it from the start, but Sasuke knew it for a fact the moment he set his eyes on him.

The two met each other's glance, and for a brief moment, their masks fell as they smirked;

they had an unspoken agreement. They had a rematch coming. It had been a few years since the day Naruto had awakened his kekkei genkai and both were above such trivial fights as the one Sasuke had instigated back then, but the honest truth was in their blood. The unlikely Hyuuga and the last Uchiha...yes, there was definitely a rematch waiting for them.

As the hours dredged onward, ignoring the students' pleas of mercy, the class finally ended it's 'bookwork' side and moved to something a bit more practical: taijutsu practice.

"Alright class," Iruka mentioned while pairing off names on his clipboard, "Today I'm going to be evaluating your taijutsu. It's mandatory to see where you stand in terms of the others of your class and improve accordingly, so I will be pairing you off with one of your classmates for this test. This will be done in one on one spar with me judging. There will be no use of weapons, shuriken or otherwise, and each match will only last five minutes or until one is unable to fight back."

Iruka eyed his class, making sure they heard him.

"Alright, I'll call out the first two names..."

The first few fights were relatively entertaining; one of the students managed to dodge an axe kick only to have his opponent's shoe catch his belt, yanking his pants down with it. It took Iruka a few minutes to get his class back under control after that one; even Naruto let his mask slip slightly for a few moments. It didn't help that the boy was wearing smiley-face boxers.

After the first few fights, however, Naruto heard his name called and proceeded to the makeshift arena Iruka had set up.

"Inuzuka, Kiba, please step forward," Iruka stated, looking at his clipboard.

The boy walked up to his place across from Naruto and took up his fighting stance.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask that Akamaru stays out of this one. He counts as a weapon," Iruka stated, looking at the puppy on Kiba's head.

"Alright. Akamaru, I can handle this one on my own," Kiba commented, placing the puppy on the ground, "Go wait by sensei."

The dog made his way over to Iruka before sitting down and watching his master.

"Now, begin!"

Kiba dashed forward and swiped at Naruto, narrowly missing him. "I've always wanted to put a Hyuuga in their place," the dog user commented lunging at the blonde again.

'Hyuuga...oh no,' Iruka thought to himself, his eyes going wide at his mistake, "Kiba, Naruto, back down!"

He was too late. Naruto's movements and the resounding 'thwack' sound that lasted for nearly three seconds told him that the Inuzuka wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.

He quickly made his way over to his fallen student while Naruto followed suit. After a moment's hesitation the blonde knelt down and started pressing the dog user's Tenketsu, effectively opening them back up, but neither he, nor Iruka, expected Kiba to respond the way he did, and Naruto fell onto his back from the force of his opponent's punch.

"Kiba, stand down! You've already lost," Iruka scolded his student; his words fell upon deaf ears.

The dog user was swinging wildly now, all semblance of style forgotten...now replaced by feral rage. Yes, the boy was definitely fit for the Inuzuka title. Naruto, on the other hand, remained cool and collected, dodging, weaving, moving in strange angles; all the while he wore a smile on his face that only seemed to grow as the dog users attacked became more and more feral and animalistic.

The final blow landed was what Iruka knew as a Hyuuga finishing technique, but instead of pumping chakra into his hand, effectively killing his opponent, Naruto turned his palm into a fist and slammed it into the Inuzuka's sternum, forcing the air out of his lungs and sending him sprawling in one blow.

"Winner, Naruto," Iruka stated, ushering the blonde back to the crowd as Kiba began to regain his composure. Iruka walked back over to the boy and helped him to his feet, scolding him all the way.

"When I end the match, it's over...are we clear? As for your taijutsu style...I'm only slightly acquainted with the Inuzuka clan's style, but..." That was about where Naruto stopped listening as he turned his gaze to the last Uchiha. The two shared a glance for a moment before Iruka called the next set of names.

Eventually the crowed dwindled down to only a few students, Sasuke among them.

"Next up: Sasuke and..."

"Naruto," the obsidian eyed Uchiha finished for Iruka, "Let me fight Naruto."

"I'm afraid not, Sasuke," Iruka stated, "Naruto already had his match. I'll pair you two up some other time."

"He barely tried against Kiba," Sasuke replied, "He didn't even finish the match with a Juuken strike...he wasn't trying. I want to fight him."

"I'm sorry, Sasuke, but there are no exceptions."

"Fine..."

"Choji," Iruka continued, "Please step forward."

The match was hardly that; in a few swift movements, Sasuke had delivered a painful kick to the back of the Akimichi's head, rendering him unconscious. 'I wanted Naruto...' the boy thought to himself.

"That was amazing, Sasuke!" the blonde haired girl, Ino, practically squealed, while the pink haired girl, Sakura, attempted something similar. The two were vying for the Uchiha's affections and were promptly ignored.

Currently, Naruto was at the front of the crowd, smiling while he watched the remaining students begin their matches...he was completely unaware that there was a young, blue haired Hyuuga standing a few feet behind him, wishing she had the courage Sakura and Ino showed towards Sasuke.

- - -

**A/N:**

**Hey guys, just wanted to thank all my readers for patiently waiting for this update.**

**I would also like to introduce my new BETA, Maiden of Books, and thank her for her help with this chapter. Hopefully I'll have the next few chapters up faster than this one.**

**I would also like to take this opportunity to recommend everyone a few other writers: EdStargazer, Pudgypudge, S'TarKan, and Ambrant Arandel.** **These four writers are probably the best I've run across for either Naruto or Negima stories, and I would recommend any/all stories they have posted to any person looking for a good read.**

**I appreciate everyone who reads my stories, and I hope you enjoy where I'm going with them.**

**~Fenix Maelstrom**


	3. The Trial for Genin

"I heard about your defeat of the Inuzuka boy in class today," Hiashi stated as Naruto took his place at the dinner table. Naruto's look could be described as somewhere between sheepish and shocked.

"From what I hear, he got in a serious hit," Hiashi continued, "Something about knocking you onto your back."

"Hai, Hiashi-sama," Naruto replied, "He attacked me as I was unsealing his Tenketsu."

Hiashi took a sip of his tea, as if waiting for Naruto to continue.

"Iruka-sensei had ordered the match to stop, but I was in the middle of an attack at the time. When I finished, my opponent had been completely disabled, but when I unsealed his Tenketsu, he attacked. To avoid him attacking me again I finished the match with a physical version of one of our style's finishing moves," Naruto clarified.

"Yes, I heard about that one," Hiashi confirmed, "And from what I hear, it completely broke through his defense."

"Hai, Hyuuga-sama."

By now Hinata and Hanabi had joined the two at the table and, while Hinata had been there and easily assumed what the two were talking about, Hanabi was completely confused.

"...What did I just miss...?" the younger girl asked, still a little confused, "Something about a finishing move turned physical?"

"Just small talk," Hiashi informed his youngest, "Naruto was filling me in on the details of his spar today."

Hinata smiled back at the thought of the spar; she hadn't seen Naruto that happy in a long time.

"Remember, Hinata," Hiashi continued, snapping the young woman out of her thoughts, "We have sparring practice in two hours."

Hinata almost gulped visibly; she knew today's spar was not going to be a pretty sight.

- - -

"What is this, a joke?" Hiashi declared angrily as Hinata tried to pick herself up. They'd only been fighting for a few minutes, and Hinata already looked like she was shot. Hiashi had made the days sparring session much more intense than the others, and he was sorely disappointed as his daughters inability to cope.

"This is pathetic!" he spat, scolding his first-born, "Hanabi is better than this! You're a disgrace to yourself and this clan and even more..."

Hinata was desperately trying to stand, and had finally made it to her feet. Hiashi was still angry, but he decided to keep the next comment to himself...even he knew that the next few words that were going to come from his mouth were cold, and he didn't desire to put his daughter through that kind of torment.

"Give up, Hinata, I'm done..." Hiashi stated, and he turned around and began to walk off, "You've disappointed me...go back to your room and continue your studies..."

Hinata slumped over after her father left the room. She could barely move, but that didn't stop the tears from running down her face. 'I'm a failure...' was the only thought that crossed her mind, 'Why would Naruto ever want me?'

Naruto had been walking past the dojo when he heard her sobbing and his curiosity forced him to open the door. What he saw broke his heart: Hinata was curled up in a ball on the floor, crying into her own arms.

She hadn't even noticed him enter when she felt his hand on her shoulder. Instinctively, she tried to flee, to get away from whoever had seen her there, but she hadn't even made it to her feet when Naruto pulled her down into his arms and held her there.

"L-let me go..." Hinata sobbed into his chest, still forcing her eyes closed, "P-please, j-just l-let me g-go..."

"No," Naruto replied softly.

Her sobs died instantly.

"N-nar-ruto," she whispered, her sadness being replaced by embarrassment, "I-i n-need t-to g-go..."

"No," the boy stated once again, firmly holding her in place.

"P-please...p-please N-narut-to..."

"I will...but first listen to what I have to say."

The young girl nodded her head in response.

"I'm not smart, Hinata," the boy began, "But I'm not stupid...I want you to tell me what happened. Your studder disappeared a year and a half ago...something serious happened to bring it back. Tell me Hinata-chan...please..."

He began to loosen his hold on her, but instead of breaking from his arms, Hinata wrapped her own around him, pushing aside her feelings of embarrassment.

"F-father is usually very strict and hard on m-me in our training...b-but today h-he w-was m-much worse. I t-think I did something to m-make him mad."

"Nothing could've been bad enough to deserve what he did to you," Naruto interrupted, seeing her smaller body was covered with bruises where chakra was forced through her skin.

"I d-don't know w-what I d-did...b-but father was angry. H-he completely ov-verwhelmed m-me and after it w-was ov-ver, h-he c-called me a d-disgrace..."

Naruto felt his respect for Hiashi waver; he couldn't believe he would do that to Hinata, no matter what his reasons.

"I don't care what your father thinks," Naruto replied to her after a moment of silence, "In my eyes, you will never be a disgrace."

It was a lucky thing Hinata had wrapped her arms around her crush; if she hadn't, there was little doubt in her mind that he would've been oblivious to her affections. Her face felt like it was on fire and her heart felt like it was flying; suddenly...her fathers opinions seemed inconsequential.

Hizashi had been coming to check in on his brother's training session with Hinata when he overheard the conversation between Hinata and Naruto, and he was both disappointed and pleased at the same time. Disappointed in his brother for his lack of understanding and brutal methods, and pleased at the growth of Hinata and Naruto's relationship. 'Even if they don't end up together,' Hizashi thought to himself, 'Those two will be best friends for life.'

After the obvious climax of the conversation, the Branch house head made his way to his brother's quarters. Someone had to put the man in his place.

- - -

Hours had passed since the incident, and Naruto found himself drawn to his usual thinking spot, but this time he wasn't alone. Hinata sat beside him on the rooftop just above his room, taking in the magnificent night sky.

"Naruto-kun..." Hinata whispered, catching his attention, "Thank you for earlier..."

"Don't worry about it, Hinata-chan," the blonde replied, "I just find it difficult seeing you without a smile on your face."

Hinata couldn't help but blush, and Naruto couldn't help but be completely oblivious to the situation.

"You're my best friend, Hinata-chan, Naruto continued, "And it's really hard to see you sad."

"I understand Naruto-kun..." Hinata replied, "You're my best friend too..."

He smiled at her for a moment, his eyes reflecting how deeply he appreciated her saying that, before his gaze returned to the night sky.

- - -

The next few weeks that went by were rather uneventful, save the constant curiosity about Naruto and his sudden reappearance. No one ever asked him where he'd gone though; his Hyuuga-like responses were enough. While there were a select few that managed to actually bring themselves to talk to Naruto, he usually just glared at them...he did what was expected of him as a Hyuuga.

Naruto began to loosen up as the school year went on, as did Hiashi about the two keeping the Hyuuga appearance. He showed more of himself in class, and even began talking to some of his classmates. Before he knew it, there were a few girls attempting to ask him out, but he was so oblivious to it that their constant 'hinting' did nothing but confuse him. In the end, there were two major fan-clubs among the girls at school: the Naruto fanclub and the Sasuke fanclub.

As the months went on, the tests at the academy got steadily harder, and eventually Naruto was forced to get Hinata's assistance in studying. During what free time they had, the two were constantly in the books, even if it caused Naruto to get a bit of a headache at times. It was either that or suffer more of Hiashi-sama's discipline. Naruto found the constant headache to be much more preferable.

Eventually, the school year came to a close, and it was time for the final exams.

"Alright, the final exams consist of three basic courses," Iruka stated, calming the class down, "Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Throwing and Accuracy. In a few moments, I will lead you to your first destination, but before we begin, I need to go over the details of the courses."

All eyes were on Iruka now, hanging on to his every word.

"Throwing and Accuracy will require you to hit the target at least eight times out of ten. The better your accuracy, the higher your point total. This same concept goes for Taijutsu and Ninjutsu as well. The better the jutsu or your performance, the higher your point total. If you fail to reach a certain overall score, you fail. If you fail two or more of the courses, you fail.

"The Taijutsu portion of these courses will pit you against one of the sensei's here. You are to do everything in your power to overpower us."

Several of the students gave him nervous glances.

"Don't worry about us fighting back; we will be purely on defense. Whether you overcome us or not doesn't really matter, it's your performance that we're looking for.

"And last but not least will be the Ninjutsu portion...which will be revealed to each of you individually as you enter the chambers to take the exam," Iruka studied the faces around the room; many of them he knew would pass, but several others were questionable at best, "Now if you will please follow me."

Iruka turned and walked towards the door and smiled at his students as they came to join him. Many of them wore determination on their faces...those were the ones he was certain would pass.

"So these are the Genin hopefuls, huh?" a man with a headband covering his eyes asked as Iruka approached him, "Look like a bunch of nervous wrecks if you ask me."

"They are," Iruka replied, taking his place beside the man, "But you can't really blame them."

"True enough."

The man walked up to Iruka's class and motioned for them to halt.

"My name is Hogoku, Jinta," the man stated, "And I will be the judge of your Throwing and Accuracy exam."

The man lifted his headband to reveal coal-black eyes.

"When I call your name, you will take your place up at the throwing line and choose ten projectiles. All of them are top quality, I can assure you, and are razor sharp, so try not to lose any fingers."

The class slowly dwindled down as their names were called, many of them passing, save a few exceptions.

"Haruno, Sakura," the coal-eyed sensei called out, "Please take your place at the throwing line."

The pink-haired girl nervously walked up to the line and stared down her target.

"You get one practice throw," the man continued, offering her his plate of projectiles.

One swift movement and a quiet 'thunk' and Sakura's worried expression fell from her face; she hit the target. Finally, with a look of resolve, she took all ten of the weapons in her hands and began throwing them. A steady 'thunk' conintued until she threw the last of her weapons; when it made to hit the wood, it bounced off instead.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to count that as a miss, young lady," Jinta stated as he took his place beside her, "If you can't throw it hard enough to stick it in the target, it can't be counted as a hit."

Sakura made her way back over to the class, but her final miss didn't get her down...she did hit nine out of ten, after all.

"Hyuuga, Hinata," the man continued, "If you would please take your place."

Hinata, for the most part, looked like she was going to faint; a lot was riding on her passing her exams. As she began to trod over to the line, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked back to see a smiling Naruto.

"You can do this, Hinata-chan," he stated, his total faith in the blue-haired girl.

That was all Hinata needed; she continued to the line and, after a quick practice throw, she proceeded to land shuriken after shuriken in the red and yellow parts of the target.

By the time Hinata had finished, Iruka was wearing a smile. Not only had she taken to the exercise with gusto, but he saw Naruto giving her words of encouragement. He was happy to see her come so far; it appeared as though the blonde-haired Hyuuga was having a good impact on her after all.

"Hyuuga, Naruto," Jinta stated, turning his eyes to the blonde. Naruto began his trek to the line immediately.

"I don't really want a practice throw, sensei," Naruto commented, taking the ten kunai in his hands.

"Very well, you may begin whenever you're ready."

One by one the Kunai began to connect with the target, and by the end of it, the proctor was wearing an amused expression.

"Actually, sensei, can I have that practice throw after all?"

The man handed Naruto another kunai, which Naruto immediately hurled at the target, hitting it directly in the middle and completing the kunai smiley face he had made.

"Thanks, sensei," Naruto stated as he returned to the class; Iruka could only shake his head. At least it wasn't as bad as some of his older pranks.

The rest of the exam was rather uneventful, at least until they reached Uchiha, Sasuke, who managed to throw all ten of his weapons at the same time and land them all in the bulls-eye. Eventually the exam was completed, and Iruka began marching them off to their next destination.

"This is where you'll be taking your Taijutsu exam," a tan kunoichi with black hair stated as the class fell into place in front of her, "You will be paired off with one of the sensei's here at the academy and you will attempt to overcome them. They will not be fighting back, so you don't have to worry about getting seriously injured, but don't expect them to just take a beating either. You will be judged on how well you perform by the sensei you're paired off with. Any questions?"

The class was silent.

"Good. We will be pairing you off five at a time. That means that only five matches will be going on at one time," the woman stated, grabbing a box from the side of the room, "You will each draw a piece of paper from this box, and proceed to the specified mat."

The woman walked through the ranks of students, each of them drawing their own lot and proceeding off to the specified mat, until she was left standing with Iruka.

"So those two are in this class, huh?" she asked, staring at the backs of both Sasuke and Naruto.

"Yeah," Iruka replied, walking up beside her, "And I have to say...I've never seen a more promising class in my career."

The woman smiled at Iruka, "You have the heirs of several clans in this years class...it wouldn't surprise me if this is the best class ever to graduate from this school...but those two..." She lifted her hand, motioning to Naruto and Sasuke, "Those two are in a league of their own..."

"You have five minutes to try to overwhelm me," a man with a few scars covering his face told the students in front of him, "If you are unable to land a single hit, you fail this portion of the exam. You will be fighting me one on one, so will a..." the man trailed off, looking at his roster, "Inuzuka, Kiba please step forward?"

The match began immediately, but Naruto's attention was torn from the fight in front of him when he heard cheering from the students at the next mat over, and saw Sasuke panting while the teacher in front of him was on one knee, coughing roughly. Sasuke must've landed a critical blow to get that kind of response...probably a gut shot.

A few mats down he could see another teacher dodging and weaving as Hinata attempted to strike him. He couldn't help but smile at the seriousness on her face and the panicked look on the teacher's.

'Looks like someone forgot about the Juuken' Naruto thought behind his smirk.

Before he knew it, Naruto's name was called and he took his place in front of his teacher.

"Begin whenever you're ready. I'll start the clock as soon as you attack."

Naruto assummed his stance and it appeared as though a look of confusion followed shortly by realization crossed his teacher's face as he, too, assummed his stance.

"Byakugan."

Naruto charged his opponent, only for his first attack to be completely thwarted. As the instructor pushed his arm to the side, the blonde spun around and hooked his left leg behind that of his teachers and pulled, sending him to the ground.

"One," Naruto stated as his teacher was getting back up, but as he tried to regain his feet, he felt his left leg go numb.

"This isn't going to end well..." the teacher stated, holding his leg.

"Two," Naruto continued his count as he landed a glancing blow to his opponent's right forearm.

'I wasn't expecting him to put up this much of a fight...' the man thought to himself as he began weaving through Naruto's attacks, 'I've never fought an academy student this well versed in taijutsu...'

"Three," Naruto stated after his fingers ran along the teacher's side.

By now, the teacher was quite frustrated; not only was he having trouble with his left leg and right arm, but now he was having trouble with his lungs.

Hinata turned her gaze to Naruto's match, having just completed hers, when she saw it. Naruto moved fast...too fast for her to see. He had covered ten feet and landed a serious blow to the teacher's stomach in less than the blink of an eye.

"But that..." Hinata whispered to herself, "It's the same as that time..."

She barely remembered when Naruto had first joined the Hyuuga household, and even less the time before it...but now, after all the time they'd known each other, she remembered his short fight with the Uchiha.

The proctor, on the other hand, felt like he was trying to move through water; his arms felt heavy, he was having trouble breathing, and his legs felt like jelly,

"You are within the realm of my divination..." the blonde stated coldly, assuming a unique stance and facing his instructor.

'I can't stop his next attack...should I call the match?' the instructor thought to himself as Naruto began his charge, 'No...pride won't let me. Only one other option then.'

As Naruto was about to begin his attack, he felt the air leave his lungs; the instructor had attacked him. He began to back up, still holding his stomach and trying not to fall when he heard the sensei breathe a sigh of relief.

'That was stupid of me...' Naruto thought to himself, fighting to catch his breath, 'I shouldn't have let my guard down like that. No doubt Hiashi-sama's going to use this against me...'

A smirk crossed Naruto's face as his bearing returned to him.

"What are smiling at?" the instructor asked, a cold demeanor surrounding him.

"Hiashi-sama's ganna have a field day with this one..." Naruto stated as he began walking towards the teacher, "You landed a blow on me...that was foolish on my part."

The instructor began to worry a bit as the grin on Naruto's face turned to a full blown smirk.

"I forgot that the best defense any Ninja has ever come up with has been filled with offensive maneuvers as well. I forgot to look beneath the shadows..."

By now the teacher was slowly backing up; the smirk on Naruto's face had turned slightly maniacal.

"I haven't had this much fun in a long time. Shall we continue, Sensei?"

The instructor nodded slowly, and Naruto bolted after him. Had the teacher thought he was at a disadvantage before, he now knew Naruto had been trying to keep it slightly professional...in other words, he was holding back.

"Six," Naruto counted quietly as the man felt chakra enter his body from his side. A few seconds later he heard another whisper from the blonde...this one sounded like 'twelve'. He started getting worried as his body stopped responding properly and that was when he realized it: he was scared. This Hyuuga was purposefully counting quietly so he would strain to hear what he said, and each time he heard a number, he wondered where he'd been hit. Little by little he began to fear for his safety as his body became less and less responsive. The boy was playing on his fears as well as his knowledge, but as Naruto continued his onslaught, the instructor heard something that completely erased his fears: the timer.

"Very good, Hyuuga," the man stated as Naruto walked over and began unsealing his tenketsu, "You're very talented in the area of taijutsu...probably more so than someone your age should be."

"Thank you, sensei," Naruto replied as he continued his work. A moment later, the man stretched his aching muscles before calling the next student to the mat.

"It seems you're right, Miharu," Iruka commented towards the black-haired kunoichi, continuing their previous conversation, "Those two really are in a league of their own."

- - - - -

"Alright, when I call your name, file into the classroom to complete the ninjutsu portion of this exam," Iruka called out to the waiting students.

Slowly, the calssroom began to empty as students were called to complete the final test of the exam.

"Hyuuga, Hinata," a man with silver hair called out after opening the door to the examination room. The young heiress did her part to look as neutral as possible while walking down the stairs, but inside she was nothing but butterflies. This was a defining moment.

After a few moments, the silver-haired man once again opened the door, "Hyuuga, Naruto," the blonde stood and began his trek down to the room as well.

"Alright, Naruto," Iruka stated while examining the papers in front of him, "You are required to use Kawarimi, Henge, and Bunshin no Jutsu in order to pass this part of the exam. For Henge, I need you to transform into Mizuki-sensei over there and for Bunshin, I need you to make at least three acceptable clones."

Naruto, for the most part, did his best to look unfazed as he replaced himself with a chair on the opposite side of the room and then turned into the silver-haired man guarding the door, but the last jutsu was something he knew he didn't quite grasp...but something Hiashi had stated months prior rang in his head. Something about too much chakra.

"Sensei," Naruto stated as he prepared for the technique, "You said at least three clones, right?" Iruka nodded the affirmative, "Is there a maximum?"

"Well...no, I guess not. Why do you ask?" Iruka replied, seeing a mischievous glint in Naruto's eyes that he knew all too well.

"Might I step outside for this part of the exam, sensei? It's a little small in here..."

Iruka visibly paled, but nodded once again. Naruto jumped out the window of the room, landing safely outside, before initiating the justu. But where the minimum was three and there was no maximum allotted, Iruka still hadn't expected THAT many.

"Very good, Naruto," Iruka stated, giving up counting after he hit thirty, "You pass."

As Naruto passed through the door on the other side of the room, he collected his Hitai-ate, and was immediately tackled into a hug.

"You did it, Naruto-kun!" Hinata practically squeaked.

"And you did too, I see," Naruto added after hugging her back.

"I'm so happy!" Hinata continued, closing her eyes as she held Naruto tighter, "We're both Genin now."

Hinata didn't notice, or didn't care, but half of the girls in the room were looking on in envy. Right now, he was hers...the other girls didn't stand a chance.


	4. The Beginning of a Journey

"Know that I'm very proud of the two of you," Hiashi stated, a smile gracing his lips, "I'm confident both of you will make fine shinobi."

"Thank you, Hiashi-sama," the two replied in unison, bowing their heads.

"Remember: the pride of the Hyuuga clan rests on your shoulders."

- - - - -

"So," Neji stated as he swiftly evaded a strike to his chest, "You've finally graduated."

Naruto blocked the counterstrike and made to breach Neji's guard, "It was actually disappointing...the graduation exam..."

Neji quickly countered Naruto's counter and sealed a tenketsu in his abdomen; without missing a beat, Naruto quickly sealed off one of the tenketsu in Neji's offending forearm.

"Touche," Neji replied, balling his left hand into a fist: no use trying juuken with an arm that can't exhert chakra.

"But what gets me," Naruto continued, attempting to parry and counter a flurry of punches and kicks, "Is that it was 'too' easy. No one in our class failed. I don't think that was the real test."

Neji swiped the blonde's feet out from under him but, as he was falling, Naruto hooked his left leg behind Neji's right, effectively forcing the Hyuuga prodigy alongside him.

"You let your guard down," Neji commented, lifting himself from the ground.

"You did too," the blonde replied with a smirk.

"Anyway," Neji continued, drifting to their previous subject, "I can't exactly tell you what to expect from here. You might be put through another test, you might not."

"I kinda figured you'd say something like that..." the blonde sighed, defeated, "Guess I'll find out soon enough, huh?"

Neji smiled at his blonde companion, "Only time will tell. You'd best prepare for dinner, Hiashi-sama will punish both of us if we show up looking like this."

- - - - -

That night, Naruto found it difficult to sleep and, after a fit of tossing and turning, found himself seated in a familiar spot on the manor's rooftop.

"I knew I'd find you here," Hinata's soft voice penetrated the silence, "I take it you couldn't sleep either?"

"You know me too well," Naruto replied, a smile gracing his features.

He stared into the night sky, and briefly considered counting the stars. Nights like this were probably going to be few and far in between as soon as he began going on missions. Part of him was nervous about finally getting one step closer to his dream...but with that nervousness came excitement that enveloped it threefold. Who knew what the future had in store for him? Whatever it was, he was willing to tackle it head-on.

"So..." Naruto began after a few minutes of silence, "Does it look good?"

Hinata puzzled over Naruto's question for a moment before she faced him. Immediately she smiled; he was talking about his hitai-ate, which was currently tied around his forehead.

"Hai, it does," the heiress supplied. It was true, too, it really did suit quite well; though it gave him a bit more of a refined look, Hinata enjoyed the more wild look that his bangs gave him without the headband.

"Hey, Hinata-chan?"

"Yes, Naruto-kun?"

A brief moment passed between the two.

"We did it..."

"...Yeah..."

The two talked for nearly an hour before Hinata stifled a yawn.

"Sleepy?" Naruto asked rhetorically.

"N-no!" Hinata was quick to respond before she was attacked by another yawn.

Naruto grinned at the blushing girl; he knew she was just trying to make an excuse to sit on the roof with him, but even he could tell that she was about to pass out.

"You should really head to bed, Hinata-chan."

"I'm not tired at all, promise," Hinata whispered out, leaning her head on Naruto's shoulder.

"Not tired, huh?" Naruto's face bore an expression of obvious disbelief. It didn't matter what he or she thought though; her snores were now drowning out any reply he could think of.

'Wow...she even snores politely...' Naruto chuckled to himself, noting how quiet her snores were, 'Guess I'd better...'

Naruto paused when he noticed a strange figure on an adjacent rooftop several hundred yards away.

"You're not ANBU," the blonde stated quietly as he activated his Byakugan. Naruto could make out the man's face in excruciating detail, and wasn't oblivious to the man's wide eyes and lip movements. Naruto decided to hold onto the phrase that came out of the intruder's mouth; it was very colorful.

Before Naruto knew it, the man had traveled a great distance away from him, obviously making his way out of the village. Naruto only had one thought in mind. Hiashi was not going to like this wake up call.

- - - - -

"Hiashi-sama!" Naruto practically yelled as he turned the corner to the Hyuuga leader's room, "Hiashi-sa..."

The blonde was stopped as he noticed a gathering of branch shinobi outside Hiashi's quarters. He was going to try breaking through their ranks, but after hearing a few comments, many of them about the man he had seen, he decided against it. It was foolish of him to think that the guards wouldn't have noticed the intruder.

"Silence!" Hiashi ordered; immediately the hall went quiet, "I understand their was an intruder, and I understand that he was heavily equipped...I even understand that he retreated too fast to have been any lower than Jounin status. What I don't understand is why not a single person here saw his face!"

Looks of failure passed over several of the guards while many more simply wore the same stotic expression they'd had on since Naruto had arrived.

"No one here saw the intruder's face?" Hiashi double checked, annoyance plaguing his voice.

"I did."

The entire group turned around to see Naruto standing behind them. Aside from being so preoccupied that they hadn't noticed him, the majority of the guards seemed unfazed.

"You saw the man's face, Naruto?" Hiashi asked, a smile playing over his features. After a brief nod from the blonde, Hiashi bid the guards return to their stations and to keep their Byakugan active.

"Naruto," Hiashi began as he escorted the blonde to his study, "What are you even doing awake at this hour?"

"I couldn't sleep, Hiashi-sama," the boy replied, "So I was stargazing on the roof with Hinata-chan when I noticed him."

Hiashi cocked an eyebrow at the boy.

"She...kinda fell asleep on me," Naruto chuckled as he moved his right hand to rub the back of his head, "So I was about to take her to her room and...well..."

"I see," the elder Hyuuga responded, "I hate to do this to you, seeing as tomorrow is your first official day as a Genin, but I'm going to need you to desribe the man to the Hokage."

"Hai, Hiashi-sama."

- - - - -

The Hokage stared at the Henge'd version of Naruto for a several moments after the scritching of the artist beside him came to a halt.

"And you're certain that this is what the man looked like?" the Hokage clarified, taking a large puff from his pipe.

"Hai, Hokage-sama. I was about to head inside when I noticed him on a rooftop several hundred yards away," the Hokage chuckled at the thought; had anyone said that other than a Hyuuga he would have slapped his forehead, "But he quickly noticed me...I'm not sure if he felt the chakra I'd used to activate my Byakugan or not, but after spotting my gaze, he muttered the phrase-" the Hokage and Clan head's mouths dropped at the words that came out of the blonde's mouth, "-and tuned around and fled to the western gates."

Naruto fought to surpress his laughter at the looks the two leaders were giving him, but instead decided to point it out to them.

"Are you okay Hiashi-sama? Hokage-sama?"

The two snapped out of their stupor quickly.

"Yes, I'm fine," the Sandaime supplied, "I would suggest never using that phrase again."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," Naruto replied mechanically, knowing full well that the Hokage hadn't ordered him not too...and planned on taking advantage of that.

"Naruto," Hiashi gave the boy a stern look, "I'm going to have to ask that you not repeat anything you saw or discussed tonight to anyone."

"Hai, Hiashi-sama."

"Now, I would suggest you follow the house guards to the compound. You've got a busy day ahead of you tomorrow."

"Are you not coming with us, Hiashi-sama?"

"No, the Hokage and I have a bit more to discuss. Have a good night Naruto; I will have Hinata come and get you should you sleep in."

Naruto bowed at the waist before he turned and exited the chambers. After a few moments and spotting Naruto and the branch guards heading back to the compound, Hiashi turned to continue his discussion with the Hokage.

"The man he described," the younger man began, "Do we have any records of him in our bingo book?"

"Surprisingly, no," the Hokage replied, setting his pipe down and walking up to the clan head, "Someone who was able to not only slip past our barriers and get past our guards but manage to avoid the sight of more than one Byakugan and detect the use of another would have to be a high Jounin status ninja. I have no idea why he wouldn't be in our books."

"What if he wasn't a ninja at all?" Hiashi replied, staring at the Hokage Monument, "It is possible he recieved training in the ninja arts without ever joining the program."

"Not likely. We are one of the few villages that will allow our ninja trainees to quit and become civilians. Most other villages would sooner execute their ninjas than allow someone with training to walk around freely."

"I see..." Hiashi began, but was interrupted when Naruto burst through the doors, much to the protest of the guards and secretary.

"What is it, Naruto?" the Hokage asked, seeing the panicked look on the blonde's face.

"Sorry...old man..." Naruto replied through huffs of breath, completely forgetting his manners, "I...forgot...to mention...something...about the man..."

Naruto hit his knees panting for breath before standing up again, 'Didn't realize I was that tired...' the blonde noted to himself.

"What is it, Naruto?" Hiashi stated.

"When he...was running away...I noticed something...strange about...his chakra," the blonde continued, catching his breath, "It was an odd color, and seemed to be flowing through his arms and legs in a sort of erratic pattern."

"What color was it, Naruto?" the Hokage asked, getting a better picture of who the man was.

"Almost white. But I could still see a tinge of blue."

The Hokage's eye widened significantly before returning to their normal size.

"Thank you, Naruto," Hiashi replied before ushering the boy out of the room, "Now you should head to bed." It wasn't a suggestion.

"Hai, Hiashi-sama."

Once again the two waited for the blonde to get out of sight before they continued their conversation.

"That explains how he got through the barrier," the Hokage theorized, "If he were to stand beside it and create a clone, it could create it on the other side of the barrier if the proper amound of chakra is put into it."

"But then why was the man's chakra so erratic?" Hiashi asked, unfamiliar with that specific chakra pattern.

"It was a lightning clone," the Hokage stated simply, "And seeing as the clone had an almost white chakra, though still slightly saturated with blue, it narrows down our search significantly."

"Why is that?"

"Only one clan in the elemental nations is known to have that specific chakra color. ANBU!"

Three ANBU decloaked themselves from the Hokage's walls and stood before their leader.

"Get me as much information as you can on the Konda Clan from Kumogakure. I need to know if they've had any members disappear on missions lately or if any went rogue. You have your orders." The ANBU quickly disappeared from the room.

"Let's hope nothing comes of this."

- - - - -

"Naruto..." Hinata whispered into his ear as he lay on his bed, out like a light, "Naruto-kun, it's time to wake up."

"Don'...wanna..." the blonde mumbled as he rolled over.

"N...Naruto-kun!" Hinata sighed; this was proving more of a task than she thought it'd be. She was currently on her knees with her elbows holding her up on the bed. She reached her arm over to his shoulder and shook him slightly, "Naruto-kun, we've got to head to the academy soon. Father asked me to wake you so you could have breakfast."

Naruto mumbled for a moment before he tried to fight her shaking by pushing his right arm against her...she flushed a deep red as his hand made contact.

Naruto, for his part, was having a very good dream concerning himself and an all you can eat ramen buffet at Ichiraku's, at least until, for some reason, he stuck his right arm in it. 'Squishy' Naruto thought to himself, wondering why he was touching it and not eating it. "Eep!" Naruto's eyes flashed open.

"Ramen doesn't 'eep'," he stated out loud, turning his head to his right arm. There, on the other end of his right hand, was a brilliant shade of red that was in the shape of Hinata...and then he noticed where his hand was.

"I-I-I-I-I-" Naruto quickly turned the same shade of red as Hinata and attempted to sputter out an apology, only to say something completely undiscernible from unintelligible banter.

Hanabi, in all her infinite wisdom, took this opportunity to burst in on them to see what was taking so long. What she came upon, however, left her with more questions than she could ever think to voice. Sitting on the floor facing eachother were Hinata and Naruto, the former a bright red, poking her fingers together and shifting uncomfortably, while the ladder was a deep shade of red, playing with his thumbs with his eyes shifting uncomfortably side to side.

"Uh...Father says to hurry up...the food's getting cold," Hanabi stated, completely confused.

"H-Hai!" the two chorused, even with the studder; Hanabi felt her confusion grow.

"Uh...see you down there..." she left before she could think any more on it, if only to save herself.

"I-I-I'm s-s-sorry ab-bout th-that, H-hinata-chan..." Naruto practically whispered, still staring at his hands.

"I-it's o-okay, Naruto-kun," the younger girl replied, for once studdering less than Naruto, "A-anyway, let's go before Father dicides to come get us himself."

Naruto's face flushed slightly pale at the thought of Hinata's father discovering the two. There was no doubt in his mind that Hiashi would demand to know what happened, and it was this knowledge that fueled Naruto as he got dressed faster than he had ever before and dragged a blushing Hinata behind him.

- - - - -

"I'm surprised Hiashi-sama didn't ask why we were so late to breakfast," Naruto pondered out loud as the two walked to the Academy.

"I'm 'thankful' he didn't ask," Hinata blushed brightly at the memory.

"I'm really sorry about that, Hinata-chan," the blonde apologized for the twentieth time that morning.

"It's okay, Naruto-kun," she replied, then smiled deviously, something that frightened the blonde, "I'll just have to repay the favor some day."

Naruto paled slightly; recently his wilder side had been rubbing off on the heiress, and that scared him to no end. He knew his pranks were sometimes dangerous, and some of them could be considered along the lines of partially suicidal if the desired outcome was denied...like the first time he'd snuck into the Uchiha compound and set paint bombs to go off when the door to the clan compound was opened. Naruto was lucky he was talented with the 'leave no trace' concept.

Hinata couldn't help but laugh at the face Naruto was making; it was a strange mix of pride, worry, and absolute horror. She was going to enjoy this.

"I'm glad at least one of us is enjoying this," Naruto stated blandly.

"Naruto; Hinata!" the two looked around for the voice calling them, and were greeted by Nara Shikamaru. While Shikamaru was, majority of the time, lazy, he, like everyone, had a few distinct things that motivated him...one of which had been Naruto's pranks while they were growing up, making him close friends with both Naruto and Hinata.

"How's it going, Shika?" Naruto had given up on calling the genius by his full name shortly after they had become friends, and Shikamaru had given up on having Naruto address him by his full name soon after...something about it being too troublesome.

"Pretty good. Chouji's parents needed to talk to him for a while, mind if I walk with you guys?"

"Of course," Hinata replied. He noticed Naruto pale as she glanced his way.

"What happened between the two of you?" he dared ask.

"There was...uh...an incident this morning when she woke me up..." Naruto informed his friend, his eyes never leaving Hinata's but both of them turning slightly red, "And she's promised to repay me for it..."

Hinata grinned at the blonde and Shikamaru burst out laughing as the blonde paled further.

"I'd keep my guard up, Naruto," Shika replied, "She'll probably strike when you least expect it."

"I know that..." Naruto replied, "And that's the problem. We live together! How am I supposed to sleep at night!?"

"Very restlessly..."

Naruto let out a small wimper as he turned his gaze forward, "This is not going to end well for me at all..."

- - - - -

"Alright class, settle down," Iruka commanded as he entered the room, "It's time we separated you into teams."

The class seemed to calm down a bit, until finally he had their full attention.

"As Genin, you will be operating in three man cells under the command of a Jounin. There are several reasons for this, but all you need to know is it's for instructional purposes," the man continued, "After a select number of missions completed successfully, your instructor may give the the application for Chunin. Once you have become Chunin, you will remain in your three man cells as a base, but more often than not, you will be included in missions where you may lead as many as twelve Chunin and Genin alike. After you've made it to Jounin, you will either be included in joint operation missions, working alone, or taking over a Genin team, as well as being applicable for every position that a Chunin would."

He soon realized he had the classes full attention.

"You may have finally achieved your goal of becoming a ninja, but you are still on the bottom of the charts. Only through time, experience, and backbreaking training will you reach the heights of Jounin and ANBU," Iruka nodded his head at the students, "But before you can do any of that, you must first meet your teammates and instructor. Now, when I call the names for each team, please take a seat next to your new teammates."

- - Flashback - -

"Hokage-sama, are you sure this is such a good idea?" Iruka asked, his head spinning.

"Yes, I'm certain," the Sandaime replied, "Your ideas for teams were excellent, but unfortunately, a new bit of evidence had sprung forth and forced me to change your designs for teams. You may handle them as you see fit, but the cells are set."

"B-but! Sir! This throws off the teams to an incredible extent!"

"No, Iruka, you need to look at each of your students individually and stop looking at their families. My formations are not flawed, and you students will prove themselves. Have faith in them."

"Hai, Hokage-sama..."

- - End Flashback - -

"Teams one through six," Iruka stated as he finished calling out team six, "You are to head the the training grounds, your Jounin instructors will meet you there. Mizuki-sensei will be waiting for you."

When they had filed out of the classroom, only nine students were left, and Iruka ushered them to the front rows.

"I something wrong, sensei?" Ino, a blonde haired girl wearing purple, asked, seeing the worry on his face, "No...and yes."

"Yes and no?" Sasuke asked, his onyx eyes boring into Iruka's, "What do you mean?"

"Alright, I was requested by the Hokage himself to relay this information to you, so Kiba," a boy with brown hair and red face paint lifted his head up, "Shikamaru," the boy tried his hardest not to dose off, "And everyone else, I need your undivided attention."

The room quickly became silent and shuffling ceased and they stared into their sensei's eyes.

"Last night, Konoha was infiltrated," the scarred man began, "By an operative from Kumogakure."

Iruka waited for an outburst, but quickly discovered that it wasn't coming, 'They must realize how serious this is'.

"The Hokage is currently unaware of the intentions of this operative," he looked directly at Naruto and shifted his gaze to Hinata, "But we have our guesses. This infiltration is one step shy of forcing Konoha on a warpath." This time there were collective gasps.

"However, being that we don't have conclusive evidence for this, our village is currently on high alert, though we aren't expecting another attempt for several months. This information and hypothesis has demanded a reorganization of scheduled teams. Originally we had planned to turn you nine into a combat team, a tracker team, and an assault team, but the Hokage has deemed it necessary to have other precautions taken. We don't know what Kumo was after, but we think they want our bloodlines."

Naruto didn't flinch, having assumed this himself, but Hinata placed her hand on his arm and squeezed, remembering the assault on her younger sister a few years prior.

"Therefore, I have been given the order to place you in teams the Hokage has chosen."

Many in the group now wore nervous expressions; it wasn't often the Hokage rearranged the teams to his liking.

"Team Seven will consist of Inuzuka Kiba, Uchiha Sasuke, and Yamanaka Ino," there was no argueing and no cheering, only the shuffle of feet as the three took seats beside eachother.

"Team Eight will include Nara Shikamaru, Hyuuga Naruto, and Hyuuga Hinata." More shuffling of feet.

"Team Ten will have Aburame Shino, Akamichi Chouji, and Haruno Sakura."

"My apologies, sensei," a pink haired girl piped up, "But isn't it a little odd to have two Hyuugas on the same team?"

"It won't really matter who's on who's team actually," a man with silver hair commented while two others joined him in the front of the classroom, "Because you'll all be training together. The assignment of the teams is currently a formality."

The man nodded to Iruka and paced back and forth in front of the students.

"I see why the old man decided on these ones," a man with black hair and a cigarette in his mouth whispered to the woman beside him, "I was a witness to their graduation exams. These nine graduated at the top of their class ability-wise."

"But we haven't seen them in action yet," the silver haired man replied quickly, his one visible eye shooting to each student before moving on to the next, "This is a hit or miss affair kids, you either do great, or you die," many of the students swallowed the lumps in their throats, "You've been inducted into the Hi no Kage apprenticeship; for the next three months your lives are going to be a living hell, I promise. We will push you until you can't be pushed any farther, and then we'll push some more. You will learn all the ways of the shinobi, not just your fantasies, so if you're going to quit, don't waste my time. Quit now!"

The room stayed silent.

"You have three days. In three days you will be taken from your family and forced to live together in a base camp. You will have no outside contact, no letters, no friends coming to visit, nothing. You will learn to live and operate as a unit and as pieces of a whole. By the time we are done training you, you will be worthy of the title Hi no Kage."

**A.N.:**

**I haven't remembered to do this for the past few chapters, so I'll do it now.  
I'd like to give a special thanks to my BETA: Maiden of Books.  
She's been reviewing my stories and has helped with a few terms that I'm not too familiar with, but overall, she's given me constructive criticism.**

**Now, I'm probably going to be deleting the later chapters, seeing as this is practically an entirely different story now with the same basis, but I'm not going to do it for a short while.**

**I'm sre you've noticed that Kakashi isn't really the same as he was in canon...this is mainly because I've decided that he's going to go straight from ANBU Captain to Drill Sergeant in all meanings of the words. There's not going to really be a time skip over their training either, seeing as taking assassination missions and such will be part of their training. I managed to get this chapter done much sooner than I thought I would, but don't expect the next one to be quite as fast (I'm going to the gym every day now, so I don't have a lot of free time...gotta stop being fat...lol).**

**Anyway, I've been inspired by a few stories, so I hope this one turns out as good as or better than what I've used as a muse.**

**Remember (I'm stealing this from another author, lol), it's nice to favorite, but it's AWESOME to Review! Click on that awesome button!**


	5. Path of Fire

**It's a miracle! I'm done sooner than three months in! And I'm writing something at the top of the chapter T-T.**

**I actually don't have any excuses...I'm ADD? It comes with the territory. I work a full time job, but have three days off a week. Mostly, I'm just related to the Nara's. I'd like to lay on the grass and watch the clouds all day. Okay, enough rambling; on to the story!**

The group had been given three days to enjoy themselves and say goodbye to their loved ones. Surprisingly enough, even though the students themselves had never heard of the program, when they mentioned it to their parents, most went wide-eyed; very few took it in stride.

At this particular moment, Naruto was at one of his favorite places: Ichiraku's.

"Hey, old man! Guess what!" the blonde yelled into the back after making sure no one else was present.

"Hey Naruto! What's got you excited today?" a middle aged man asked, walking to the front with a large pot full of ramen.

"Ever heard of the Hi no Kage program?"

"Actually, yes," the man replied, surprising the blond, "It was a program devised by an old friend of mine. The 'Shadow of Fire' program was to be used to train an elite guard that would be used as the Hokage's personal guard or, in times of war, commanding officers that could effecitively turn the tides of war."

Naruto hadn't heard as much as Teuchi apparently knew, and was hanging on to his every word.

"The program would train several students, usually the prodigies of their generation, in the true way of the Ninja, forcing them to understand the importance of everything a ninja uses: terrain, time, information, tools, taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, and finally physics and the laws of nature. The entire purpose of the program is to prepare young minds to be ready to fight, and eliminate, at any time, any place, and under any conditions," the older man set the pot down and emptied a bit of its contents into one of Naruto's bowls; Ayame had set aside around twenty bowls for the blonde's exclusive use when he started showing up again, "The program was unfortunately put on hold before it began. The Fourth Hokage had everything set up and ready to go, until the Nine Tailed Fox showed up. It single-handedly eliminated over three fourths of our ninja population, and wounded many more. Since then the program has been nothing more than a sheet of paper waiting to be put in effect."

Teuchi sat Naruto's bowl in front of him, but noticed that he didn't immediately begin digging in to it and began putting the pieces together. "So they've finally started it back up, huh kid?" the older man asked, setting his pot to the side.

"Yeah. It has a total of nine applicants; I'm one of them," the boy replied, staring down into his ramen.

"Congratulations kid!"

"Huh?"

"You have to be the best of your generation to get accepted into the Hi no Kage! You done good kid. Tell you what, this bowl's on me."

"You really mean it?!"

"Yup!" the old man grabbed his pot and turned to take it back into the back.

"You rock old man!"

- - - - -

The only sound that could be heard in the room was the flickering of candles as the Hyuuga elders sat on the edges of a bamboo lined walkway. After several moments of silence, two figures emerged from the entrance of the room before slowly beginning their trek to the altar at the end of the path. As they reached their destination, the two knelt, before lowering themselves to the seiza position and setting two similar looking candles in front of them.

The more masculine of the two wore a white kimono, adorned with a Sakura tree in full bloom, it's pedals flowing across the fabric in an unseen wind; the more feminine of the two wore a pink kimono with a dogwood in bloom while its branches reached across the entire outift. As the two bowed their heads, a slightly older man could be seen in front of them, lighting his candle aflame.

"Blessed be this ceremony," Hiashi began, his voice loud and firm. Though there was no echo in the room, each person in it could hear the man's voice loud and clear, as if every word was being etched into their minds.

"Hai, Hyuuga-sama," every voice resounded. The two sitting at the altar, however, remained silent and motionless.

"We of the Hyuuga Clan have been given a great honor. Two of our own have been indited into the Hi no Kage...the Shadow of Fire. Not only have they been chosen among the first to ever enter the program, they have brought honor to our clan as they are the only two from the same clan," Hiashi continued, "As such, these two have completed one of life's major trials, and have finally become full fledged shinobi. When your name is spoken, raise your head."

"Hyuuga...Hinata..." the man continued.

The young girl lifted her head and locked eyes with her father. After a brief smile, she closed her eyes.

"Hyuuga...Naruto..." Hiashi finished.

With this name, many of the council gave disapproving glances, but in the Hyuuga clan, tradition was worth more than pride. The boy lifted his gaze to that of his surrogate father and closed his eyes.

"Rise, children, and accept the title of Hyuuga Clan Shinobi."

The two rose from their positions and turned back towards the entrance. Slowly, with their eyes closed, Hiashi led them back to the doorway, each council member's head bowing as they passed. When they reached the end of the path, Hiashi beckoned them to turn around again.

"Open your eyes, my children."

The two did as commanded and, upon this, the entire council faced them and bowed as one.

"From now on, your challenges will only become more difficult," Hiashi began, "As your journey through life lengthens, you will learn much and you will experience much. Remember that it is yours...this life is yours and no one else has one that is like it, nor will they ever. You will continue to grow...into greatness."

"Thank you, Hyuuga-sama," the two replied in unison, taking one knee.

"Tonight, you will both bear the mark of the Hyuuga clan."

Hours later, Naruto and Hinata could be found walking down the hallway laughing and smiling. They had undergone the Hyuuga coming of age ceremony which, thankfully, entailed very little; to Naruto, this was a godsend, seeing as he had barely slept the past few nights. As the ceremony came to a close, the two were led down an unfamiliar corridor in the house and into a room where the Hyuuga symbol was tattooed into each's right shoulder. Right now, other than a bit of discomfort and itching, the two were happier than they'd ever been.

- - - - -

Naruto and Hinata had been waiting at the appointed meeting spot for a few minutes when the other students began to show up, each wearing a sleeveless shirt showing off the tattoo on their right shoulders.

"I didn't realize every clan was doing that," Ino commented after she walked up to Hinata, "I wonder if it's a mark of the Hi no Kage?"

"Maybe," Kiba commented as he joined the two, his feral smile letting them know just how excited he was, "I know ANBU gets a tattoo on their left shoulder marking them as such."

By now, all nine of the students had gathered and were avidly talking about what was to come. Well, the were until he showed up...

"My name is Hatake Kakashi, but you will refer to me as Taicho," the silver haired man commanded as he came upon the group, "There will be no 'Sensei' from you. I am not here to just teach you, I am here to drill you into the ground. I have been appointed to the commander of the Hi no Kage unit because I am the best from my generation and am one of the top Shinobi in this village. Now, if any of you are having second thoughts, leave, because you won't be able to once we start."

After a few nervous glances and a bout of shifting nervously, he smirked, "Good. Follow me."

Three hours, and a jog through the forest, later, the group came upon a small boat and the ocean. Once they came to a stop, Kakashi decided to explain a bit.

"You nine are to take the boat to that Island out there," the group could see him pointing his finger, but they couldn't see the island, "It is heavily fortified, but you won't have to worry about sneaking in. The boat in front of you has eight oars and a single rudder; eight of you will be paddling, and one of you will be steering."

"Which of us is steering, Taicho?" Sakura asked.

"That is entirely up to you guys."

With that, Kakashi ran up to the water, and quickly sprinted across to the island.

"D-did he just run on top of water!?" Kiba practically swore; he'd have to learn how to do that.

"Yeah...anyway, who wants to steer?" the blonde of the group piped up. After a few moments, a couple of the students raised their hands.

"Okay, well, Choji, Sasuke, Shino, Kiba and I are probably the strongest here physically, so I think it would be a good idea if we paddled," the blonde stated, earning a few groans and a grunt.

"I'll help paddle," Hinata added in, "If nothing else, it can be counted as helping strengthen my arms."

"So there are six of us that are paddling so far..." Choji commented.

"Seven," Shika added, stepping over to the boat.

"Okay, you can steer," Ino stated walking over to the boat, "Just try not to drive us into a cliff, Forehead."

"Zip it, Pig," the pink haired kunoichi growled out as she took her position.

After about twenty minutes of switching around and paddling, the group finally had a steady rhythm going and were in the sight of the island when a stone hit Shikamaru in the head.

"What the hell?"

"Oh crap," Sakura called out, "They're bombarding us with stones!"

"Dodge!" their silver head captain yelled out, throwing another set of stones, "It's up to you to lead them here uninjured, Haruno! They're the muscle and your the brain right now!" The man launched another stone the size of his fist, "Head's up!"

The group barely dodged in time.

After a few minutes of futilly attempting to dodge the incoming rocks, Shikamaru finally broke the silence.

"Okay, this is getting annoying. We aren't getting any closer!"

"We don't have much choice, we've got to get to the island," Kiba replied brashly.

"Yeah, but do we have to use the oars?"

"I don't think he said we have to, but how else would we get there?"

"Is that my cue, Shikamaru?" Choji asked, pulling his oar inside.

"You got it big guy! Everyone, pull your oars in!"

After a few looks of curiosity and a few that were apparently accusing him of being insane, all oars were inside the boat.

"Everyone get to the back of the boat; I'm going to need you as stabilizers," Shika explained.

By the time everyone was at the back of the boat, Choji had made it to the front.

"Body Expansion!"

Both of the boy's arms grew to thirty times their original size, and he quickly started swimming the entire group towards the island. The bombard of rocks didn't stop though, instead they became faster and more frequent.

"Naruto!" Hinata called out to him, "We've got to block for him! If he gets hurt, we'll be even slower than we were before hand!"

The blonde nodded his head before taking up a position in front and to the right of the boy, while Hinata took a similar position on the left.

"Byakugan!" they called in unison.

The two did an admirable job of blocking the majority of the stones, but after a few minutes, the rocks stopped...and as soon as they thought they were done, several figures could be seen running straight at them.

"Aw crap..." Kiba muttered.

Three hours later found nine battered apprentices and one pristine looking boat at the shore of the island.

"That was pathetic."

The group turned their heads to a group of five shinobi, four of which were masked and could be easily identified as ANBU; the other was the silver haired man from before.

"You didn't give us any kind of warning!" Sakura proclaimed.

"Do you expect a warning from your enemies?" the Cat masked ANBU asked.

"N-no!" the pinkette replied hastily, "But you aren't our enemies!"

"You might want to rethink that statement," the woman replied, "We may be your allies, but in order to make you into true shinobi, we will hunt you down and attack you as if we weren't."

"Anyway," the silver haired man interjected, "That was pathetic. You didn't formulate any sort of counter to our assault for nearly five minutes and it took you nearly ten to realize that just paddling your way to the island wouldn't be enough. If you had been on an escort mission, the enemy would have been throwing kunai and shuriken at you, not rocks, and your employer would more than likely be dead."

"B-but sensei," Hinata began to try to form a counter argument.

"No buts! You failed to get here without getting hit by rocks, and worse, when you saw your enemies approaching, you didn't launch a single jutsu! You waited until my clones reached you before you even attempted to stop me!"

Many of the young shinobi in the group looked crestfallen; the others looked plain annoyed.

"I don't care what kind of prodigies you think you are; there are always better! It's my job to make you see that you aren't good enough and to force you to get stronger!" the man yelled, "You're out of your diapers now kids; there's no mommy or daddy, sister, brother, best friend...nothing to help you except yourself and your new family," he waved his hands in front of them, signalling that he was referring to the nine of them, "There is no longer a 'top of the class' or a 'bottom of the class'; if one of you is doing bad, all of you are doing bad! It is your job to make sure they don't drag you down, because right now, you are all a single entity and the best you can do is what the worst among you can."

He got their attention with that one. No class 'dobe'? No 'elite'? What the hell had they got themselves into?

"As I told you before, my name is Hatake Kakashi, but you won't know me as that," the man continued, "Nor will you call me 'sensei'; a sensei follows you around and wipes your ass if you get confused and forget where it is. You will call me Taicho or Captain! I guarantee you that I have earned the title, and if you disagree, you're welcome to try and best me. I will break limbs."

Sasuke and Kiba paled.

"Now before we start anything, there are a few things you need to know," the man explained, "First is the position of attention. Keep your feet together at a forty-five degree angle and your knees together. Keep your back straight and puff out your chest; I don't care if your a girl and it embarrasses you...I promise that if any of the boys here tries to catch a glimpse, he'll be punished. Severely. Keep your arms pinned to your sides and your fists balled, thumbs on the outside."

The man walked around for a moment, inspecting each's attempt at the position and correcting each in tow.

"This is the position you will be in when I go in for room inspection. This is the position you will be in when you're in the dining area. This is the position you will be in when you're in group. This is the position you will be in whenever I am in front of you! Do you get me?!"

A few mumbled responses were heard.

"I can't hear you! Get your foot out of your mouths and try again!"

Again, a few 'yes's that he could hear, others mumbled still.

"What the hell didn't you get when I told you to speak up!"

He could clearly hear their chorus this time, but he wasn't done.

"Congratulations! I could hear that one! But it was wrong! You will end every sentence you speak to me with 'Sir'! Try again!"

"Yes, Sir!"

"Better! Follow these ANBU to your quarters: men on one side, women on the other. When you get there, you'll find your training uniforms! You get five pairs of each, and it is your job to make sure they stay clean! You rip or destroy one, you're down one! You better take care of these clothes or you'll be doing your training in the nude! And I give you my word as a Captain that I will make you do it!"

Another chorus of 'yes sir's and the ANBU led the students away. Kakashi smiled to himself; it felt good to get to yell at people sometimes.

- - - - -

The position of Captain Overseer of the Hi no Kage project was a job Kakashi was glad he had taken; not many got offered something like that, and from the Hokage nonetheless...but right now he was developing a migraine and a weariness was beginning to find him. What in the world was the academy teaching these kids? They didn't know any of the formal exercises, none of the manners or respects to show their superior officers, and the worst part? They didn't even know how to climb trees without using their hands! No wonder they freaked out when he ran on top of the water to attack them!

'I'm going to have to have a conversation with Hokage-sama after this proceeds to the next step,' the silver haired captain grimaced, 'The academy has gone way too far downhill since my day'.

As it was, he'd spent three days drilling the students into their practical exercises and schedules, and now that it was on the fourth day, he was beginning to enjoy himself as much as they were: like an infected boil.

If there was one thing his ninja training had taught him though, it was perseverance. Many believed that a ninja was one who worked for his village, was a tool for his Daimyo, or was merely one who explored and exercised jutsu; the truth is, it was none of those. A ninja is merely one who endures: torture, exercises, pain, dismemberment, anything...a ninja is one that never backs down no matter how impossible the goal; that is the honor of a ninja.

Unfortunately, right now he was questioning it. The first week of the training should have been spent driving their new training schedule into their heads, but he was still walking behind them and kicking the back of their knees when they locked them; at least that activity was humorous.

- - - - -

"What the hell is with that guy!" Kiba screamed more than asked as he began folding his bed covers, "You don't tell a guy to stand up straight and expect him not to stand up as straight as possible!"

"You locked your knees, Kiba," Shino replied stoticly, "You should have at least figured out not to lock them after the first time."

The Inuzuka flushed slightly at this statement.

"I don't know," Sasuke commented, seeing his chance to get a jibe at the boy, "I don't mind a little comedy relief in a place like this."

"Why you-"

"Give it up, Kiba," Shikamaru interrupted, "It's not worth it. But seriously, what is up with this place? I expected some extra training...but this place..."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, "I didn't think anyone trained like this."

- - - - -

They'd been stuck on the island for two weeks now, and the silver-haired captain felt he probably should have expected this.

"What is wrong with you?" Kakashi demanded after leading the way into the outer wilderness.

"I-I-I..." Ino sputtered out, trying to hide her eyes.

"You're too late in to want to quit," the man replied, "If you really don't think you can do this, don't bother returning to your barracks tonight."

"W-what?" the girl asked in surprise.

"I said don't return to your barracks. You don't deserve to look into the eyes of the family you're going to fail."

This only served the make the girl cry worse.

"You give up now and you fail them all: your family, your beliefs, your friends back home, yourself..."

The girl hid her face behind her hands.

"Your father," he finished.

The girls sobs stopped, "No..."

"You're worthless. Get the hell out of my sight."

"No," she stated without moving.  
"I said get out of my sight! You're worthless! It's obvious you'll never amount to anything! You'll move through life with nothing but half assed attempts at success and you'll die without making a single one of your dreams come true! Now get the hell out of here! I have no use for someone who's going to back out when it gets tough!"

Ino firmly held her ground.

"What the hell are you waiting for!?"

"You're wrong!" she screamed back at him.

"Am I? You've done nothing to prove me wrong! All you've shown me is your lack of spine!"

"You're wrong! I'll prove you wrong!"

"You think you can prove me wrong!?"

"Yes I can!"

"What was that!?"

"I said, yes I can!"

"I don't think I heard that right! What was that sentence one more time!?"

"I said yes sir I can! I will prove you wrong!"

"You'd better, get the hell back to your barracks!"

With that, the blonde marched herself back to her friends.

"For someone with mind tricks, she sure was easy to manipulate..." a cat-masked ANBU stated as she lept from her perch.

"She just needed the right motivation. She's always wanted to be like her father...so I used that against her," Kakashi replied, "We've all got our weaknesses Neko, it's digging them to the surface that becomes difficult."

"You're expecting good things from these kids?"

"No, I'm not expecting good things," the silver-haired ninja replied before turning an icy gaze to his comrade, "I'm demanding the very best from every single one of them."

- - - - -

Two months. It had taken two months for Kakashi to get his charges to the level he'd thought they would be the moment they fell into his hands. Each of them could easily perform water-walking and tree climbing now and, though among friends, many of them were constantly on guard; being stuck with an ANBU Captian that liked to keep his people in shape was one thing, but having to be on a constant guard in fear for your life because that same ANBU Captain had psychotic ways of making sure you were in shape was something else entirely.

Some of the Hi no Kage hopefuls recalled having seen Captain Hatake a few times in the village, walking along reading some unknown book; none of them realized the entire time that they were walking past a psychopath. At least that's what they felt at the time. Truth was, Kakashi's methods were extremely productive and, though his apprentices distaste for him grew every minute, he knew that they would be a force to be reckoned with when he was through with them.

"Well, now that we got the basics out of the way," the Captain stated, taking his place in front of his small squadron, "I think it's about time we learned where each of you stands among the four main aspects of ninjutsu: taijutsu, ninjustu, genjustu, and stealth."

"There are only a few simple tests, and you should be done with them before the day is over, so never fear," his gaze held a slight bit of malace, "You won't miss your daily workout."

Several of the ninja in front of him looked like their dreams had been crushed; they'd been doing their daily workout since day two of their arrival, and every time they began to get used to it, something knew was added. That something usually being excruciating.

First the man had added what he called a jog...and by jog, he meant marathon. After they started getting adjusted to that, he added two pounds of weights to their legs for the run; that two pounds started feeling like two hundred by the end of their 'jog'.

After they finally started adapting to that, he added a 'swim' to it; it wasn't so bad, the three laps around the island, at least not at first. The group eventually started to get used to it, and then, wouldn't you know it, he changed it up on them. Now they were swimming around the island while hidden ANBU were throwing rocks at them.

The group was pretty sure something must have happened to their captain when he was a child...many came to the thought that he may have been running from someone and ended up falling into a lake while trying to get away. Then, as he was swimming away, the person chasing him probably tried to pelt him with rocks as he swam. At this point, Naruto had asked Shikamaru to take note of how far along their theory was; he had a distinct impression that they would be adding on to it in the next few weeks.

The tests turned out to be as long and eventful as Kakashi had told them, and, like Shikamaru and Naruto had assummed, Kakashi added something to their workout routine. Now, instead of just swimming around the island, they would have to dive in, swim for one minute, after which an ANBU would blow a whistle, signaling the group to launch out of the water and run on top of it. After another minute or so, another whistle would blow, and back into the water they went. But the worst part of this new routine? Their laps doubled; they were now doing six laps around the island. Kakashi said it was so they technically ran three laps around it and swam three laps. They disagreed...but it didn't much matter.

Which led up to this gloomy day. The water around the island had risen slightly, but not too much to worry over, and the sun was blocked out by dark gray clouds.

"What're the odds you think it's ganna rain, Shika?" Naruto asked as he and the group made their way to their training area, "It kinda smells like rain..."

"I don't know..." the Nara replied lazily, "Kiba?"

"Pretty high up there," the Inuzuka replied after taking a deep breath, "I'm surprised it hasn't started yet; the air is saturated with moisture."

"But I doubt our 'fair captain' will let us skip out on any of our exercises," Sasuke replied, the distaste in his words apparent, "I doubt he'd give us a break even if it started raining fire...hell, he'd probably tell us to dodge the stuff as we ran on top of the water!"

"Sounds about right," the blonde replied, shifting his hands until they were behind his head.

"Alright, because of the gloomy conditions, you're going to be skipping the mara-...'jog' today," Kakashi stated as all the Hi no Kage gathered.

"Did Hell just freeze over?" Naruto whispered to his lazy comrade.

"No telling..."

"And instead, we're going to be tripling your water exercises!" the man finished, his eye closing in an obvious attempt at a cheery smile. His only reward were the defeated faces of his students, but to him, that was more than reward enough.

"Now let me show you why."

He quickly took to the trees, his young charges following him as best they could. Even with all their running, the man was still naturally faster than they were.

"He's a demon..." Naruto whined as he chased after his captain. For some reason, he thought he heard a chuckle in his head, but before he could ask anyone else if they heard it, Kakashi signaled the group to halt.

Before the group was one of the most terrifying sights they'd ever seen. They recalled that this island was, in fact, a few hundred miles into the ocean, and as such, they were surrounded by water as far as they could see...but now, there were funnels of water lifting all the way into a nearly black sky while lightning flashed and the ocean roared. With what little sunlight that reached the earth, the sky looked as though it was burning a blood red.

"What you're seeing now is an anomaly," Kakashi stated, gaining all his students' attention.

"What do you mean, captain?" Sakura chipped in.

"This is something most people never see in their lives..." the silver-haired jounin answered, "There is a mixture of fire, water, wind, earth, and lightning in this storm. Fire from the sun, water from the ocean, wind from the hurricanes, earth from the jagged rocks being torn from the sea and sent vaulting into the storm, and lightning from the very center of the electric storm itself. This is known as a 'Joining of the Elements'. Every element is at war here; every element is working together here. They battle with themselves and against everything around them."

The students were no longer looking at their captain, but at the storm itself. They winds had become powerful enough to bend the trees at their backs, but with their recent chakra control exercises, they could easily hold their footing.

"I have already ordered all our supplies for survival underground. You don't have to worry about any of your possessions not surviving this onslaught. The only thing you have to worry about surviving it, is yourself...and your brothers and sisters. The storm will hit the island in less than ten minutes. Your job isn't just to complete eighteen laps...no, scratch that, you don't have to do any laps. All you have to do is survive."

The group stared at him as though he'd just grown a second head.

"It's just the nine of you now; I'll be watching, but you'll never know I'm there. If you're dying, I won't save you. Good luck."

With his parting statement, their captain disappeared.

Kiba summed up their predicament pretty easily...

"This is turning into one helluva trip..."

**A/N:**

**Hey everyone, just want to mention that the style of writing on here may change a bit. I'm finally entering the first arc, 'The Storm'. For the time being, the story's going to focus on the Hi no Kage and not much else, meaning that when this arc is over, time will have passed in Konoha, and you'll know nothing about what has happened since the group's arrival on the Island.**

**I'm probably going to jump my story from a sort of third person view, to several different first person views. I would like to thank ****Hinata0321**** for the idea from her story "Journey of the Three Failures" (which is amazing by the way...if you've got a few days worth of free time, give it a read. It's worth it.)**

**I would like to thank my wonderful Beta, Maiden of Books, once again for her timely return of this chapter (I spend a month writing ten or less pages, Kami Forbid that I make you guys wait longer...). I'll probably have the next chapter ready sooner than most.**

**I hope it was worth the wait (though this one was more of a prelude for things to come...I get excited just thinking about it...lol).**


	6. Reality Strikes

**Well, this is the first chapter of 'The Storm' Arc of my story, and it was rather difficult to write. A lot of the things you're going to notice in here are actually situations I have experienced (the wood thing for example...if there are any boy scouts reading this, they'll catch the reference almost immediately). This is probably the biggest amount of foreshadowing I've ever done in a single chapter, so make sure to keep this one in mind when you begin noticing how things are happening in the story.**

**Also, apparently I made it look like Naruto had a mullet. Just to clarify things, that was NOT my intended design! His hair is the same length throughout (though I may have to fix that in my earlier chapters...) it's just REALLY spiky in the front.**

**Once again, I'd like to thank my awesome Beta, Maiden of Books, for the wonderful job she did and for making sure that I don't look like a complete idiot! :D She completed this chapter even though she's been under the weather for a little while.**

**If you haven't guessed yet (and if I haven't put it in one of my previous chapters) this story is based in an Alternate Universe, so anything goes! Let's see what I can do with what I'm given.**

"Ten minutes my-"

"Kiba!" Shikamaru interrupted, "Now isn't the time to be complaining, it's the time to be running!"

The storm struck the island sooner than Kakashi had predicted, and now they were doing their best in their search for shelter.

"Up ahead!" Hinata called out, wincing as it started to hail, "There's a cave in the rock face!"

Several taxing moments later, the group had huddled down inside the cave.

"I know we're tired guys," Shikamaru commented, "And I personally would love nothing more than to just lay down and fall asleep, but we've got to do a bit of planning."

"I agree," Naruto stated, catching the group's attention, "But we've got something else to do before-hand. Sasuke," the obsidian-eyed boy cast him a glance, "Sakura," the kunoichi faced him, "We need firewood. With the hail and rain, we need to gather it as soon as possible; can I get you two to join me in scavenging some?"

Sasuke nodded his head with Sakura following a moment after.

"We'll be back in soon, can it wait until then?"

"I'll join you," Kiba added in, "That way we can go off in two different directions."

"Hurry back, guys," Shika replied as they set out.

- Kiba –

"It's no use," I called out, "It's all too wet or too alive!"

"Have you ever heard of 'Squa Wood'?" Naruto asked, searching the trees.

"Squa Wood?"

"Yeah, it's actually a condition of wood more than a type of it. No matter how wet squa wood gets, it still burns."

I looked around on the ground; sure, there were different pieces of wood everywhere and some were bigger than others or different colors, but nothing really struck me as that sort of wood.

"Well, like I said," the blonde returned to my side holding a regular piece of wood in both hands, "Squa wood is a condition of wood." He handed me the two pieces of wood, and it was easy to tell the difference; one was of normal weight while the other was lighter than normal.

"I'm sure you've noticed which is which," the blonde continued despite my silence, "Squa wood has reached the middle mark between being dead and being alive. Green doesn't burn easily, but neither does black. Squa wood has lost all its moisture and, being dead, it can't get it back without rotting. A lot of times squa wood is still attached to trees."

The Hyuuga easily broke off an obviously dead limb from a tree to emphasize the point.

"And it's easiest to find it there."

"Alright, then why are we searching the ground too?" by now I was getting rather tired of being both rained and hailed on, "It sounds like a waste of time. Why not just go for the ones on the trees?"

"Because it just started storming," the boy yelled over a loud clap of thunder as he picked up a few pieces of wood from the ground, "So we should grab as much from the forest floor as possible before it absorbs too much water."

I nodded my head in response; it was a good point and a good plan, but one thing made me a bit uncomfortable.

"How do you know all this?"

The blonde's eyes glazed for a moment before returning, "Sorry, I'd rather not talk about it."

Fair enough; obviously it was something that had affected him pretty badly in the past. I could relate to that.

"Alright, what say you to hurrying up and getting out of this mess?" I yelled out as another thunder clap shook the earth.

"I'm with you on that one!"

- Shikamaru -

At first, it wasn't so bad but now it was plain annoying: Ino hadn't shut up since the other four left.

"I can't believe Taicho did this to us!" he'd already heard her say that phrase three times; he was beginning to think he was caught in a genjutsu. He moved his hands in the proper seal and muttered the release, but nothing happened.

'That's it, I'm in hell...'

"What is he thinking! Forcing us to go through with this and disappearing! The he feeds us the false information about how far away the storm is! I can't wait til this storm ends; I'm so not letting him hear the end of this! Tomorrow he'll wish he never came up with this stupid idea!"

"Ino," I interrupted, "I doubt he lied about the storm on purpose."

"I don't care!" she replied, her defiant streak showing, "You know...I just can't wait for this storm to end so I can go to the bunker and sleep in my bed."

"Don't get your hopes too high..." Chouji stated, staring out into the storm, "I don't think this storm will be ending any time soon."

My eyes wandered over to my larger friend. We'd known each other since before the academy, so it was a guaranteed fact that the we'd rub off on each other in some fashion, and now I had to agree with him. The look in Taicho's eye had shown a bit of warning; this storm wasn't something that just passes through...so how long were we supposed to survive on our own? This was one of the things I'd planned to discuss with the group when the others returned. In order to actually survive this storm, they were going to need some sort of command line. Being equals and individuals was fine and dandy, but in a life or death situation, those that had either the experience or the knowledge were better off leading the others. Life expectancy was just higher that way.

This of course led to several problems. I knew that among the group, I was probably the smartest as far as strategy and planning and that Sakura had everyone beat when it came down to book smarts, but that wasn't something needed right now.

I glanced among the other four occupying the cave; none of us knew what it was like to survive alone out in the wilderness. There was no guesswork involved here; I knew it for a fact. The only ones that knew what it was like to survive without assistance were Sasuke and Naruto. Sure we were all taught survival training in the Academy, but there is only so much you can learn from a book. Those two were the only ones that could not only survive, but thrive.

"Wake up!" Ino yelled as she chucked a rations bar at my head.

I caught it deftly before my eyes glazed over once more.

"Shika," Chouji started, catching my attention, "What's on your mind?"

I spared a glance at my best friend, only to see the determination in his eyes. He knew what I was thinking, and I was pretty sure he was thinking along the same lines.

"We need to discuss a few things when the others return," I replied.

"How long do you believe this storm will last?"

We all turned our head to the voice. Shino was never much of a talker, but when he said something, everyone heard it.

"I honestly don't know," I replied, putting my fist up to my chin, "But judging from what I saw of the storm before we came here, it could last a few days at best," Ino's eyes almost bugged out of their sockets, "Or a few weeks at worst."

"What!" the blonde of our group yelled out.

"Ino, calm down," Hinata spoke up, attempting to settle the girl, "We're ninja for a reason. Something like this storm won't stop us, and it's only a little discomfort."

Ino looked like she wanted to cry.

"So troublesome..." I muttered out.

- Kiba -

"Alright, I think that about does it for me, you ready Naruto?"

Said blonde was currently lifting a log with his leg, balancing it about to throw it in the air.

*Clunk*

"Yeah, I'm ready," he added walking towards me, "This should at least last us through the night."

We'd been searching for wood for about half an hour now and were thoroughly drenched; I was pretty sure I would wake up with welts in the morning from all the hail. After another minute or two of walking we came to the rendezvous point and waited for the other two.

"How long do you think this storm will last?" I called out, almost as a yell; the rain had started pouring down pretty hard and everything sounded like it was being muffled out but a dull roar.

"I don't know," Naruto yelled back, turning to face me, "But I don't think it'll let up before the day's over with. With the way things are looking right now, this might last for a long time!"

I'd feared as much. Our instructors had always taught us to look 'underneath the underneath' and this didn't appear to be an exception. Taicho really expected us to survive out here throughout the storm...no matter how long it took to pass.

"I see them!"

We met the two in the middle.

"Looks like you two had some luck," Sasuke yelled out, his own arms filled to the brim with wood.

"Yeah, thanks to blondie here we can get started on the fire right away; let's get back to camp!" I yelled back.

"Wait, guys," Sakura commented, pausing for a moment, "Do you hear that?"

Sure enough, there was a loud sound coming from the north. I turned my head, immediately wishing I hadn't.

"Oh crap..."

"Mudslide! Run!" Naruto yelled, charging forward.

- Shikamaru -

"They sure are taking their time..."

By now the temperature had begun to drop, but because of the rain the young shinobi had been forced to shed their upper layers of clothing.

"They'll be here soon, Ino," I replied. A cold shiver ran down my spine: something was wrong.

Just as I was about to get up, the four bounded into the cave entrance, fear in their eyes.

"We need to get as far away from the entrance as possible!" Kiba yelled, startling the others.

"Wha-? Why?" Ino questioned, remaining in her seated position.

"Ino, get up! We're moving!" I called out, grabbing several packs of gear.

Chouji was quick to jump in, using his partial expansion to grab several packs as well.

"Mind explaining?"

"The rain's caused a-" Kiba didn't get to finish his sentence as the earth began to shake and mud poured in through the cave entrance and over where we had just been seated.

Naruto picked a spot to lay the wood down and Shino cocked an eyebrow.

"So that's what my insects were nervous about. A mudslide?"

"Yeah. I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but before we knew it, it was plowing down the mountain behind us. We're lucky we picked a cave facing the storm and not one facing away from it," the blonde stated.

"You're right," I replied swiftly, "Let's get the fire started. I'm sure we're all cold and you four looked drenched to the bone. I suggest stripping and putting your clothes over the fire."

I couldn't help but laugh to myself; before I'd said anything Naruto had already began taking off his clothes.

"H-hey!" Ino cried out, blushing, "There are ladies present."

"There are no ladies present here," Sasuke interrupted, taking his clothes off as well, "Only shinobi. I would much rather the group here see me nude or for me to see the same of all of you than die of hypothermia."

"We should at least leave our underwear on," Naruto replied, his gaze locking with Sakura's, "I don't think it will kill us. We'll just have to sit close enough to the fire for them to dry too."

I was pretty sure the pink haired girl had never been more thankful of the blonde in her life.

"Either way, the only one of us here anywhere near adept at Katon Jutsus is you, Sasuke," I continued, "Could I convince you to light the fire for us? It might take a while if we try it the old fashioned way."

The smirk on his face assured me that I'd won him over.

"So, I know all of you from the Academy," Naruto began through the sound of cackling firewood, "But I don't really know many of you personally. I think some real introductions would be a good start to this 'training' of ours."

"Well," Kiba replied, "Since you started it up, you're first man."

The blonde chuckled a bit; he should've seen that one coming.

"Alright, where to begin..." he replied in a fake monologue, "Well, I was an orphan for the first eight years of my life, until the day that I activated my Byakugan. I'm sure everyone here remembers that day; it was also the same day I was adopted into the Hyuuga Clan. I specialize in Hyuuga Clan taijutsu, the Juuken. I like Ramen, gardening, hanging out with friends, and training."

"So this whole ordeal must be some kinda aphrodisiac to you, huh?" the Inuzuka joked.

Naruto laughed beside him, "Well, not really. I prefer more controlled conditions. Well, you're up Kiba."

"Well, as long as we're talking about family, I come from the Inuzuka Clan and have one sister and a mother...both of whom scare the ever loving crap out of me. I don't know much about my father, and my mother refuses to tell me anything, so I doubt I'll ever know...he must've done something pretty bad to get her riled up like that, but then again, maybe not. That's just how she is.

"I specialize in taijutsu as well, but I usually work with my partner, Akamaru, who couldn't join us on this trip. My family have hyper-developed noses that give us a sense of smell that rivals that of a nin-hound, and we use soldier pills to compensate for our chakra devouring maneuvers."

Kiba nodded to Shikamaru.

"My turn, I guess. Both of my parents are still alive and kicking, but I have no siblings. My father is on the Council and Konoha's lead strategist. My Clan, the Nara's, specialize in the use of shadows. We can use them for anything from restraint to strangulation. I'm told I'm smart from most of the people I meet, but this is more of a genetic disposition than anything else. My family is one of strategists; using our shadows and our minds we know how to best control a situation, eliminating all negative factors and manipulating our opponents minds. Chouji?"

"I have no siblings, and my mother is a housewife while my father, Akimichi Chouza, is among the Konoha Council. I come from the Akimichi Clan and specialize in Calorific Jutsu. I'm sure you noticed that I'm rather big boned; it's because the jutsu our family use manipulate our bodies size, forcing us to expend both chakra to enhance our muscles and bones and calories to keep from causing our bodies to begin devouring themselves from starvation. Aside from our clan jutsu, I know a few small Doton jutsus, but nothing of real merit. Ino?"

"My parents run a flower shop in town, but my father, Inoichi, is also the clan head and a member of Konoha's council. We specialize in mind control techniques that vary from taking control of a persons very consciousness by replacing it with our own to digging through a corpse's memories to find what it knew before death. Sakura?"

"My...parents were assassinated two days after I joined the academy, so I live alone now. I don't have any jutsu to note other than the three basic academy jutsu, and my taijutsu is mediocre, but I have a deep understanding of the functionality of techniques and a quick enough mind to make use of most situations. I...don't really like to talk a lot, so you guys will probably learn a lot about my silent responses."

She nodded her head to Sasuke.

"I'm the sole survivor of the Uchiha Massacre and the last loyal member of my clan. I know several powerful Katon Jutsus, but very few weaker ones. My clan's taijutsu, the Receiving Fist, is largely unknown to me, but I've only been studying it for a few months...though it is worthless until I awaken my clan's Dojutsu, the Sharingan."

"I am Aburame Shino, and my father, Aburame Shibi, is among Konoha's council as well as being the head of our clan. We specialize in the use of Kikai Destruction Bugs, and upon the birth of a clan member, their body is offered up to the bugs in exchange for their services. Our insects feed on our chakra, but when we summon them they can devour the chakra of our enemy or eat through solid objects."

"Sounds useful," Naruto interrupted; Shika nodded his head in agreement. Ino shuddered.

"I'm Hyuuga Hinata, heiress of the Hyuuga clan. My father, Hyuuga Hiashi, is both the Clan head and a member of the Konoha Council and my little sister, Hanabi, is second in line for heiress. My mother passed away when my Imouto was born. I specialize in the Juuken, but I'm studying the fundamentals of it to determine if it can be used as a long range art as well."

"I suppose now that introductions are out of the way..." Shika began.

"Wait a second," Kiba interrupted, "Is it just me or is this a little strange?"

"What do you mean?" Ino asked.

"We're all the children of council members or prominent clans. Doesn't this seem a little odd to anyone?"

"Not everyone here is from a Clan, Kiba," Shino replied, "Naruto and Sakura, for example. But your idea does have merit. We should ask Taicho when we meet with him after this trial is over."

Kiba nodded his head in satisfaction.

"Anyway," Shika continued, "I think we need a base chain of command."

"Why?"

Shikamaru's hand found his face at the question, "Because I'd like to survive, Ino."

The girl's eyes went wide. "What do you mean by that? This isn't a life threatening situation is it?"

"Okay, that's it, I'm annoyed! Yes, Ino, this is a life threatening situation! We could die! Weren't you even paying attention a few minutes ago when that mudslide hit? Had you still been sitting there, you would be dead right now! Without a chain of command we will barely survive out here!"

"Calm down, Shika," Chouji calmly stated, putting his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"He's right," Naruto continued for him, "We need some sort of command structure and we're better off putting the people who've survived in the wilderness or survived alone at the top of it."

"Which leaves three of us that we know of," Sasuke intervened, "Naruto, myself, and Sakura."

"My thoughts exactly," Shika continued after calming a bit, "But there's more to this situation than that. We need a supply of food; we have some timber, but it's not going to be enough to last us through this ordeal; and we need to either dig our way out of here, or go deeper into the cave to see if there's another way out.

"For now, I suggest we leave both Naruto and Sasuke in charge, considering they've got the most experience with wilderness survival, and we can use their advice to our advantage. Myself and Sakura are among the most intelligent of us, so we'll hold the final bar on group decisions. All of us, however, are going to be grunt labor. We will need to get dirty, of that there's no doubt, and I hope everyone here will be willing to do so when it happens. For now, I think we should get some sleep; we've got a lot to do tomorrow."

-Two Hours Later-

- Ino -

"I can't believe this is happening..."

"Try not to worry about it, Ino."

My head jerked in the direction of the voice.

"H-hinata! What are you doing up this late?"

"I've been having some reoccurring nightmares lately, but that doesn't really matter. What's eating away at you, Ino?" the way the young girl smiled at me forced me to trust her; I knew I had to get it off my chest one way or another.

"Taicho left us in the wilderness to die, Hinata-sa-"

"Just Hinata, please," the pale-eyed girl interrupted.

"Okay, Hinata. I...I almost quit our training a few weeks ago," I tried my best to hide my eyes behind my hair, "I just couldn't take it. I knew it would be difficult to become ninja, but I wasn't ready for this. I don't know if I can make it through it..."

"Ino," the girl consoled, "Who are you doing this for?"

"W-what do you mean?"

"Why are you a ninja? Are you doing it for yourself? Your family? Is there some person out there that you're doing this for?"

"I...y-yes...my father. He's always been there for my mother and me; I...I just want to make him proud of me."

"There's not a whole lot the Hyuuga Clan's eyes miss," she replied quietly, "But I don't need my eyes to see how proud of you your father is. Every day when we were younger, I would watch the other students leave with their parents before the house guard would come and pick me up. I used to watch your mother and father come and pick you up, as well as all the other's parents. I even watched the kids that didn't have any parents leave on their own."

Hinata's eyes were mesmerizing; never before had I seen such a strange range of emotions play across the girl's face. Everything from envy to sadness crossed over her eyes, causing them to slowly turn darker or lighter hues as their respective emotions passed. Was this another trait of the Byakugan?

"Among all of the children from the academy, it was easy to tell your father doted on you the most. I don't think you have anything to worry about there."

I didn't know why, but the way she said it made me believe her; apparently the relief showed in my eyes.

"So the real question is: do you want to keep doing this?"

My eyes grew wide; she had a point. Why was I doing this? Was it really just for my father?

"Think on it, Ino."

With that the pale-eyed girl left to return to her sleeping bag.

"Wait, Hinata?"

"Yes?"

"You asked me why I'm a ninja, and I can't help but wonder...why are you?"

"I'm a Hyuuga. We all join the academy and become ninja. Some more successful than others."

"So you're just doing this because you're being told to?"

The girl paused for a moment and I just barely noticed her flicking her eyes towards the camp.

"No. There is...one other reason why. There's someone I look up to and admire..."

And I want to be with him every step of the way. She didn't need to say that part though; it was conveyed in her eyes. Such blatant and honest emotion that it couldn't be anything less than straight from her very soul.

"I understand, Hinata," I smiled as the girl returned to the camp. She was willing to follow her dream through; why shouldn't I? After all, my dream to be a ninja started long before I wanted my father's recognition.

A slight cracking could be heard above the dying embers in the fire, but none in the group were awake to notice the sound...nor did any of them see the root of a tree that began growing and moving from the soil above them.

-Nine Hours later-

"What the hell is wrong with you, Tenzo?" the silver haired jounin demanded.

"Sir?" an ANBU asked, removing his mask to reveal a younger man with brown hair, "What are you talking about?"

"You know damned well what I'm talking about! I ordered everyone here not to interfere with the cadets' trial!"

"But sir-"

"I don't give a damn about your reasons!" Kakashi interrupted, his face turning red in fury, "The next time your disobey my orders you're off this project 'if' I decide not to have you arrested!"

"But sir!" Tenzo attempted to plead.

"I said no excuses! Do you understand me?"

"I didn't do anything!" the ANBU blurted out.

"Then how do you explain the root of a tree hyper-accelerating it's growth to bust a hole in a mud and rock wall so the cadets could get to freedom! It happened less than an hour after you arrived!"

"I told you it wasn't me, sir!"

"Lying to and talking back to your superiors is a great offense, Kempai! You're about to get yourself into a helluva lot of shit!"

"Sir!" a bear masked ANBU intervened, "I arrived with Tenzo and spent the first several hours getting updated on the situation with him. Not once during that time did he even attempt to mold chakra."

"Fine," the captain commanded darkly, "Since the two of you are so hell-bent on following through with your little 'story' I have a new assignment for you."

"Tenzo placed his Deer mask over his face.

"If 'Deer' didn't do this, find out who did."

Kakashi blinked and the two were gone.

A deep rumble awoke the nine shinobi, and upon standing, Sakura felt a strange mix of relief and extreme curiosity. A gigantic tree root had ripped through the earthen wall the previous day's mudslide had created, leaving a hole big enough to escape through.

"Thank goodness," the pink-haired cadet sighed, but found her attempt to breathe back in painful.

"What?" Ino huffed out, experiencing the same problem. On closer inspection, the only one not suffering from breathing was the blonde Hyuuga in their group.

Ino ran to the wall and began inspecting it with what little light she had.

"Oh no," she groaned, leaning her head against the wall for a moment, "We have to leave. Now!"

She quickly gathered what things she had and began storing them in their specified scrolls.

"What's wrong, Ino?" Shika huffed out as he, too, began panicking.

"This cave is infested with a black mold," she explained, "We didn't have much light last night, so I didn't notice it. The fire we had going activated it, and since the mudslide the other day plugged the entrance up, the only place the spores had to go was in our bodies.

Shikamaru turned his head to the exit, only to look on in confusion, "What the-"

"We don't have time to ask questions, Shika," Naruto broke in, "We need to get out of here, so start packing."

"If we inhale the spores much longer, they will eventually begin tearing down our immune systems and affected our muscles and organs," she continued, rushing over to help Chouji pack after finishing hers, "It could even kill us."

She activated another scroll and tossed it to her chubby companion.

"You however," she laid her eyes on Naruto and paused for a second, "You're not even breathing hard. Isn't the mold getting to you?"

"It might be..." Naruto answered with a confused tone.

"You must have one powerful immune system."

The blonde had the decency to look embarrassed despite his amused grin.

"So where are we headed from here?" Kiba asked, walking to the entrance of the cave and wincing as he watched the hail pummel the mud.

"To higher ground," Sasuke answered as he joined Kiba, "We'll be looking for something similar to this cave. Any natural formations that can be used as shelter are our best bet. They're more likely to survive this weather than anything we make."

"Ready guys?" Naruto turned his head back to the group. Seven nods later he turned his head to look into Sasuke's eyes; another brief nod, and the shinobi disappeared.

A/N:

And so concludes the first chapter of my first arc (so many firsts...). Did you like it? Did you catch any of the foreshadowing I mentioned? Like it? Love it? Want some more of it? Leave me any and everything you liked or didn't by clicking that button! Remember, it's nice to favorite, but it's awesome to review! Click that Awesome Button! :P


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